


Unsteady

by Lampshadez



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-06
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-07-22 00:30:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 20,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7411277
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lampshadez/pseuds/Lampshadez
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Once Wynonna ends Waverly's possession by the snake goo demon, Waverly runs away and stays away for two years.  Well, now she's back, and the people she left behind aren't all thrilled to see her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Two Years Gone

Waverly sat in the passenger seat of Wynonna’s truck, staring out the windshield.  It was cold and snowy, a stark contrast to the city in which Waverly had been in the night before – Casablanca.

“So, are you going to tell me why you’re back, or what?” Wynonna cut through the silence.

“I wasn’t planning on it.”

“How long do you plan on staying?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you plan on leaving again?”

Waverly could feel Wynonna looking at her, looking into her, trying to figure out what the hell Waverly went through in the last two years and what brought her back that day.

“Maybe.”

“I’m sorry,” Wynonna said, a tinge of desperation in her voice.  She didn’t want Waverly to leave again.  “Waves, for what happened….”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Waverly, finally looking at Wynonna, if only for a moment.  “I just couldn’t stay after that.”

Wynonna nodded.  She remembered the night Waverly left.  She remembered doing the exorcism, getting the snake goo demon out of her.  She kept Waverly at the homestead, but after the exorcism she and Nicole took turns staying by Waverly’s side, only switching off to sleep or work.

Then one night there was a police call that both Wynonna and Nicole had to answer.  Waverly had been better for a few days, but she still wasn’t really speaking.  She’d nod or shake her head when asked questions, she’d watch television or read books, she’d listen attentively when spoken to.  In those few days, she must’ve said less than a dozen words, but she seemed like she was getting better.

Then Wynonna and Nicole went out on that call, both having asked Waverly several times if she was okay to be on her own for a few hours.  Waverly nodded and actually told them to go, that she’d be alright, and it was the most they had heard her speak in days.  They took it as a good sign.

Then, they got back after the call and Waverly was gone, along with one of Wynonna’s suitcases and a bunch of clothes and cash.

“And I’ll pay you back,” Waverly said.  “I’m sorry I took your money.”

“It’s cool, I sold your car,” Wynonna said.

Waverly looked back at her, shocked.

“I’m kidding,” Wynonna said.  “It’s where you left it, at the homestead.”

Waverly sat back, still tense but a little less so.  “Thanks for coming to get me.”

“Of course, baby girl.”

**-WE-**

It was late when Wynonna picked her up, so they basically went to sleep as soon as they got back to the homestead.  The next morning when Waverly woke up, Wynonna was gone. It was late morning, so she guessed Wynonna was at work.

In typical Wynonna fashion, there was no food in the house.  For a brief instant, Waverly wondered if Wynonna had hidden or moved the food, so that Waverly would have to leave the homestead.

She found the keys to her Jeep exactly where she left them, on the hook in the hallway.  She took them and headed out.

She only made it so far, though, until her car sputtered to a stop.

“Great,” she muttered, looking at the dashboard to see what the problem was.  She knew the car probably hadn’t been driven in two years, but she also saw a gas gauge pointing at “E”.  She had run out of gas on an isolated country road, in the middle of winter.

In her haste to leave the homestead (the sooner she left, the sooner she could return, plus she was starving) and her habit formed over the past couple of years, she didn’t bring a coat.  So, walking to a gas station was out of the question.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at it – it was dead.  She remembered the night before that her charge wasn’t built for Canadian outlets, so she was out of luck.  She was going to try to buy an adapter, too, in addition to the food she sought.

So, she couldn’t really do anything but wait.

It took about an hour, but then she saw someone’s headlights in the distance.

Waverly stepped out of the car and waved them down.  To her relief, they stopped.

“Hey,” she said, when they pulled up next to her and lowered their window.  “My car ran out of gas.  Do you think you could take me to the nearest gas station and bring me back?  I can pay you.”

The person inside the car shook their head.  They looked vaguely familiar, but Waverly had been blocking everyone and everything associated with Purgatory out of her head for the past two years.  So, she didn’t try to figure out who this person was.

But, they were looking at her like they knew who she was.  It was the same way people looked at Wynonna when she first came back, after Curtis died.

“I’m sorry, we’re in a rush,” the person said.  “We have a phone, though.  Have you called for help?”

Waverly shook her head.  “No, my phone died.  Can I borrow yours?”

“We really need to get going, but we can call the police for you,” the person said.  “They can help you out.”

Waverly frowned.  “No, it’s okay-.”

But by then the person had already driven off.

“Good luck!” they called out the window.

“Great,” Waverly muttered to herself, kicking a snowbank before getting back into her car.

**-WE-**

_Maybe it won’t be her_ , she thought as she waited in her car.  _Who knows, maybe she left after I did.  Maybe she went somewhere else, somewhere people were honest with her and good and-._

She cut herself off in her mind.  That was not a path she wanted to go on.

“No,” she said aloud.  “It won’t be her.  There are, like, a dozen deputies in this town.  Of course it won’t be her.  What are the odds?”

She saw the flashing lights in her rearview mirror and felt her heart start to pound.  She saw the officer get out of the car and knew immediately who it was.

“Oh, shit,” she muttered.  She put her window down.

“Hey there,” the officer said as they approached the window.  “I hear you’re having a little trouble?”

Waverly turned toward the window and saw Nicole.  “You could say that.”

Seeing Nicole for the first time in two years was like seeing her in person for the first time – it was like seeing the sun for the first time.  She looked like a regular no-nonsense cop, but Waverly knew her well enough to see the fatigue bagging under her eyes, the almost-entirely covered plethora of emotions in her deep brown eyes.  Waverly could only manage a few moments of looking Nicole in the eye, though.  Still, even after she spent the past two years travelling the world, the sight of Nicole was one of her favorites.

Nicole paused for just a moment.  “Waverly Earp.  I don’t suppose you have a current, valid license and registration, do you?”

“Uhm,” Waverly said, digging through her glove compartment for the registration, which she found.  It had one more month of validity.  She handed it to Nicole, who looked right at it and not at Waverly.  Waverly dug in her wallet for her license, and saw that it was expired.  Still, she handed it to Nicole.

“Driving with an expired license?” Nicole asked, examining the laminated card.  “That’s quite a ticket you’ll get for that.”

“I was away for a while,” Waverly protested slightly.  “I was going to renew it.”

“Then you should’ve gotten a ride,” Nicole said.  “Or not gone away for so long.”

Waverly physically recoiled a bit at that.  She didn’t know what to say, so Nicole spoke, quickly filling in the dead air like she would on any call.

“You ran out of gas?” Nicole asked.

“Yeah,” Waverly said.  “Look, if you can let me use your phone, I can call Wynonna and have her get me.”

“Wynonna knows you’re back?” Nicole asked, to which Waverly nodded.  “No, I’ll take you.  I can’t leave you out here without a working car and without a phone.”

“Thank you.”

“You know, every time I got a call about a red Jeep, I thought it might be you,” Nicole said.  “I hoped it might be you.”

“Nicole, I’m so sor-.”

“Come on out of the car, ma’am.”

Nicole stepped back, back in officer mode, so that Waverly could open the door and get out of the car.

“I’ll give you a ride to the gas station.”

“Thank you,” Waverly said, meaning it, as she followed Nicole back to her car.

There was no one else in Nicole’s car; it wasn’t uncommon in Purgatory to go on traffic stops alone and without a partner.

So, Waverly went to open the passenger side door, and Nicole cleared her throat.  Waverly looked up at Nicole.

“You can sit in the back,” Nicole said.

“Really?”

Nicole nodded, slightest bit of a satisfied smirk on her face, as she got back into the car.

Waverly got into the backseat and Nicole drove off.

**WE**

The ride to the gas station was silent, with brief interludes of Nicole’s radio going off.  At the start of the ride, she had updated dispatch that she was aiding the stranded motorist, but other than that there was little correspondence.

They made it to the gas station and they both got out of the car.  Waverly bought a canister and enough gas to fill it up and set out doing so, while Nicole chatted in a friendly manner with the clerk.

It was strange for Waverly to see Nicole be so at home.  The last time she saw her, she was still getting used to this weird little town.  Now, she fit right in.  She looked comfortable, like she was the kind of person who had friendly conversations and jokes with everyone in town

Waverly spoke to no one, aside from the bare minimum polite conversation needed with the clerk.  She felt uncomfortable and knew that she looked it.  She knew the clerk recognized her but she could tell from what little she heard and saw of the conversation he had with Nicole that Nicole was not going to let him gossip about her.

If Nicole was uncomfortable at all with Waverly being back and in her presence, she didn’t let it show. 

When Waverly was done, Nicole looked at her with a short, direct “You ready?”  Waverly nodded and set back into Nicole’s car.

She put the gas can in the trunk then went to open the side backseat door.

“Waverly, you can sit in the front,” Nicole said, lightness in her tone.

Waverly looked at her for moment and decided that she didn’t want to fight Nicole on it.  Worse, she didn’t want to turn down the offer and have Nicole just accept it.

So, she sat in the front seat, ignoring whatever little pang in her chest that she felt when she was sat next to Nicole.

Nicole pulled out of the gas station and headed back to Waverly’s car.

After a while, Nicole spoke.

“You need to renew that license, okay?” Nicole said.  “I don’t want to have to write you another ticket.”

Waverly nodded.  “I will tomorrow.  And I’ll have Wynonna drive me.”

Nicole nodded, satisfied or at least appeased.

**-WE-**

“Alright, you’re all set?” Nicole asked, watching Waverly take the spout of the gas can out of her car and close up the car’s gas cap, and the gas can.

“Looks like.”

Nicole nodded.  “Why don’t you start it up, just to be sure.”

Waverly nodded.  She put the gas can in her trunk then got in the driver’s seat.  She started the car up and looked over at Nicole after a few moments of the engine engaging and working.

“All set,” Waverly said.

Nicole nodded again.  “Good.”  She took a step back, like she was about to leave.  “Bye.”

“Bye.”

Instead of leaving, Nicole just looked at Waverly, and Waverly, emboldened, didn’t break her gaze.  It was apparent that Nicole should have left, but she didn’t.  She stood right there, just outside Waverly’s door.

“Why are you back in town?” Nicole asked, taking a step forward.  Waverly reflexively leaned back from that., and they both noticed

She shrugged, shaking her head.  “I ran out of money.”

Nicole let out a little laugh.  Waverly knew it was a bit bitter and a bit in disbelief and not at all at anything actually funny but goddamn was it a good sound to here.

“ _You_ ran out of money?” Nicole asked.  They both knew what was so unbelievable about that – for starters, Waverly was always incredibly responsible about her finances.  Second, between the money Gus had given her from the sale of Shorty’s, the money she emptied from her own accounts, and the money she took from Wynonna, she never needed to come back.  She had enough money and knowledge to be able to start a new life somewhere else.

Still, Waverly nodded.  “Yeah,” she said, voice lacking conviction.  She wouldn’t look Nicole in the eye after that.

“So, what?” Nicole asked.  “You’re going to make some money here then set out again?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well, if you figure it out, maybe let someone know,” Nicole said.  “Or just up and leave again.  I don’t care.”

“Nicole-.”  There was pain in Waverly’s voice, and sadness.  She wasn’t expecting to hear that from Nicole at all.  She knew seeing Nicole again would be painful but this was more intense that she was prepared for (which, admittedly, was not very much).

Nicole cut her off.  “I’m on duty.  I have to go.”

She walked off and Waverly watched her in her side mirror for a long time, first as she got in her car and then as she drove off.

**-WE-**

Nicole burst through the BBD door.

“Waverly’s back?” she asked, to Wynonna in particular but Dolls was at the table as well, so he looked up at her, too.

He looked surprised.  He didn’t know, either.  It only comforted Nicole a little bit.

“You saw her?” Wynonna asked.

“She ran out of gas, she was stranded on the side of the road without a coat or a phone for who knows how long.”

“So what did you do?”

“I took her to get gas,” Nicole answered.

“Sounds awkward.”

“It was.  How long has she been back?”

“She got back last night,” Wynonna said.  “That’s all you have to say about it?  That it was awkward?”

“Well, we didn’t really talk much,” she snapped.  She slowed a bit.  “And when we did, I was pretty mean.”

“Maybe she had that coming,” Dolls said.  Both Wynonna and Nicole turned to look at him, expressions laden with various levels of disbelief and bother.  “I’m not saying be mean to Waverly, but it must be hard not to.  She left you two.”

Wynonna exchanged a look with Nicole, then looked back at Dolls.

“No more talking,” she said, pointing at Dolls.  She looked back at Nicole.  “What did you say to her?”

“Basically that I don’t care if she stays or leaves again,” Nicole said, wincing a bit at her words.

“Damn,” Dolls said, before he could help it.  Wynonna looked at him and he put his hands up, zipping his lips.

“Damn,” Wynonna repeated.  “That’s a lot.  Do you mean that?”

“I don’t know,” Nicole said.  “I really didn’t wake up today thinking that I’d see her again, so a little warning would’ve been nice.”

“I didn’t think you’d see her today, either,” Wynonna said.  “Still, the next time she leaves and shows up again unexpectedly, I will give you a prompt heads-up.”

“Thanks.”  Nicole sighed.  “Do you know why she’s back?  Has she told you?”

Wynonna shook her head.  “Nope.  You?”

“She said she ran out of money.”

“That sounds like bullshit.”

Nicole nodded.  “It does.”

There was a bit of silence, then Nicole spoke again.

“Do you think she’s going to stay?”

Wynonna shook her head.  “I don’t know.”

“Do you want her to?”

“Yes,” Wynonna said, in a sure voice but after the slightest hesitation.

“I have to get back to work,” Nicole said, turning to leave the room.  “I’ll check in on my BBD cases when I get off, okay?”

Dolls nodded and saw her off.

When Nicole was out of the office, Wynonna turned to Dolls.

“What the hell was that?”

“What?”

“’Maybe she had it coming’” Wynonna quoted, doing her best Dolls impression.  “What the hell was that?”

“An honest observation,” Dolls said.  “She left.  Of course it’s going to be hard to see her.”

“Well, yeah, of course it’ll be hard for Nicole to see her again-.”

“I didn’t just mean Nicole,” Dolls said.  “I know things are complicated but if you want an explanation from her, you deserve one, too.”

Wynonna looked unsure.  She didn’t like thinking about Waverly like this, like someone who wronged her.

**-WE-**

Wynonna got home that night to a complete dinner on the table, and a kitchen full of groceries.  She put her things away then met Waverly at the table.

“How’d you manage to get all of this out of the store without paying?” Wynonna asked.

Waverly looked up at her.  “What?  Of course I paid.”

“Oh, I wasn’t sure,” Wynonna said.  “I heard a rumor that you were back because you ran out of money.”

Waverly frowned.  “You saw Nicole.”

“We work together, of course I saw her,” Wynonna said.  “Why’d you lie to her?”

Waverly shrugged, not looking at Wynonna.  “It wasn’t a lie.  Not exactly.  I got a job today.”

“You came all the way back here for a job?” Wynonna asked.  “I hate to break it to you, but you probably could’ve gotten one of those anywhere.”

Waverly didn’t speak, she just looked intently at her plate.

“Shit, you came back for her.”

Waverly’s jaw clenched.  “I…Wynonna, don’t.”

“You did, you came for _her._ ”

Waverly looked up at that.  “Does it matter why I came back?”

“Only if it’s something that’ll make you leave again.”

Waverly studied Wynonna’s face.  Waverly hadn’t given Wynonna’s reaction to her return too much thought, but she certainly didn’t expect this amount of (what Waverly perceived as) hostility.

“I don’t think it is.”

“Great,” Wynonna said.  She picked up her plate and stood.  “I’ve got some research I need to do, I’m going to eat in the other room where I can work.”

She left before Waverly could say anything.


	2. How to Start a Conversation

Nicole came into Shorty’s before work a few days later.  She hadn’t seen Waverly in those few days, and she and Wynonna didn’t talk about her.  She kind of thought Wynonna would have brought her up, but she never did.

So, Nicole walked into Shorty’s, as usual.  After Wynonna Peacemaker’d Bobo, a human named Earl bought the bar.  It was pretty revenant-free, both due to the absence of Bobo and the revenant-killing tear that Wynonna went on after Waverly left.

Earl was kind and personable, but in a fleeting sort of way.  He made the bar feel comfortable for everyone, but also wasn’t the type to have long, meaningful conversations.

So, Nicole tended to frequent Shorty’s, either before work to get her long-awaited cappuccino or after to get drinks with some coworkers.

“Hey,” she said to Earl as she walked in.

“Hey, Officer Haught,” Earl greeted as Nicole walked up to the bar.  He looked below the bar.  Someone was down there, restocking the shelves of glasses below the countertop, but was bent in a way that Nicole couldn’t see who it was.  Earl nodded toward the bartender.  “New kid here’ll be with you in just a minute.”

“It’s alright, I’m in no rush,” Nicole said, sitting at the bar.  “You got a new bartender?”

Earl nodded as he counted the register.  “Yep.  She’s only been here a few days but she’s great.  Although, I guess the customer should be the judge of that.”

“As long as she can work the taps without making a mess, we’ll be alright.”

She heard a sound from under the bar, like the bartender hit the bar accidentally.

“Waverly, are you alright?” Earl asked, looking down.

Waverly stood up slowly, giving a look toward Nicole before turning to her new boss.  “Yep,” she said.  “Just hit my head a bit.  More embarrassing things have happened to me behind this bar.”

Nicole’s cheeks reddened, despite the not amused look on her face.

“Oh yeah, I forgot you worked here before,” Earl said.  “You know Officer Haught, then.”

Waverly nodded, looking at Nicole again.  “I do.”

Earl shut the register drawer, having finished his count.  “I’ll leave you to it.”

Waverly nodded her goodbye at him, and both she and Nicole were silent as he went into the back.

Waverly turned to Nicole, taking a breath.  “Let me guess, cappuccino?”

“To go,” Nicole amended.

“You said you weren’t in any rush,” Waverly said, proceeding to make the drink in a not to-go cup.

Nicole watched her for a few moments.  “You work here now?”

Waverly nodded.  “It felt right.”

“Did it?”  She leaned back in her chair.  “Did you really run out of money?”

Waverly pressed a button on the coffee machine with possibly a bit more force than she needed to.  “I needed a job.”

Nicole nodded.  “Are you coming back to Black Badge?”

Waverly shrugged.  “I don’t know.  Wynonna’s been doing so much research in the past few days.  They seem to be doing fine without me.”

“Yeah, they didn’t have much of a choice.”

Waverly nodded.  She knew to expect comments like that.

“Wait, shit, no,” Nicole said.  “I shouldn’t have said that.  I’m not trying to hurt you.”

“I wasn’t trying to hurt you either-,” Waverly said quickly, turning toward Nicole and looking her right in the eye, but shew as cut off by the loud sound that the coffee machine made when it was finishing up.  Nicole glanced over at it, effectively ending the moment whether she wanted to or not, and Waverly followed her gaze and finished Nicole’s drink.

She took the drink and put it in front of Nicole.

Nicole just looked at it for a bit, then took a sip.

“Why do you sell cappuccinos here?” Nicole asked.  “I didn’t think a bar like this in a place like this would have them.”

Waverly smiled slightly, the shy smile she did when she knew she was being caught.  It registered in Nicole’s head that this was the first time she saw Waverly smile in two years.

“We didn’t always,” Waverly said.  “When you came in the first time, we didn’t actually sell them.  I have no idea where you got the idea that we did,” she laughed, and it was a good sound, for both of them.  “Then, one day, in walked this cop with all her swagger and her innuendo and I realized that it would be a very, very good thing for us to start selling cappuccinos.  I went out and bought a machine that night.”

Nicole looked at Waverly and for the first time since she’d been back, Waverly could see hints of how Nicole used to look at her.

“While we’re being honest,” Nicole said.  “I knew you didn’t sell them.  I thought it might start a conversation.”

“Oh, so that wet t-shirt contest line was an actual question, and not a pick-up line?” Waverly asked, eyebrow cocked, eyes lit up.

“It was a question that begged to be asked.”

There was a bit of a pause.  It wasn’t uncomfortable, though.

Until Waverly made it so, that is.

“So, how are you?” she asked.

Nicole looked up from her drink.  “I’m fine.”

“What have you been up to?” Waverly asked.  “You seem friendly with everyone in town.”

“It’s a small town, it’s not that hard,” Nicole said.  She squinted at Waverly, trying to see what shew as getting at.

“How are the cats?”

Nicole couldn’t help but crack a grin at that.  “They’re great.  They missed y-.”  She stopped herself.  It was true that her cats missed Waverly.  Aside from Nicole (and Doc, weirdly), Waverly was their favorite person.  She cleared her throat and committed, knowing she said too much to go back.  “They missed you,” she repeated, saying it in a true and almost concessional kind of way.

“I missed them, too.”

Nicole knocked back the last sip of her coffee.  “I should go,” she said, standing and pulling cash out of her pocket.

“It’s on the house.”

“Don’t do me any favors, now, Waverly,” Nicole said, smirking a bit.

Still, when Nicole put her cash down on the counter, Waverly pushed it back toward her.

“I owe you,” Waverly said.  “A cappuccino, I mean.”

“Yeah, at somewhere that isn't Shorty's.”  Her voice was low, taking on a tone that Waverly most associated (however Pavlovian that association was) with Nicole flirting.

Waverly opened her mouth, but words didn’t come out.  Nicole held the cash out for one last moment, but Waverly didn’t take it.  Nicole picked it up and put it in the tip jar.

She hesitated for just a moment.

“See you around, Waverly.”

“See you around, Nicole.”

**-WE-**

“Did you know Waverly was working at Shorty’s?” Nicole asked Wynonna later that day.  They were at a crime scene, a robbery that looked like it had been done by revenants.  The scene was contained, the suspects were gone.  They could talk as they collected evidence and looked around.

“Nope,” Wynonna said, distracting herself with the work at hand.

“What,” Nicole said, after Wynonna didn’t say anything else.  “You don’t want to know more?”

“If she wanted me to know, she’d tell me.”

Nicole couldn’t help but nod.  “Yep, that sounds like Wave.”

Wynonna looked up at that.

“Waverly,” Nicole amended.  “It sounds like Waverly.”

“Did you two kiss and make up or something?”

“No, of course not.”

That earned her another look from Wynonna.

“Shit, Wynonna, you know this is complicated.”

Wynonna’s only response was a deep inhale.

A deputy spoke up.

“Officer Haught, we’ve got something you should see,” the deputy said, speaking to Nicole from across the room.

“Yeah, I’ll be right there.”

**-WE-**

That afternoon, Doc was in Shorty’s.  It was kind of a slow night, so Waverly was chatting with him.

“Another whiskey?” Waverly asked, grabbing the bottle before Doc got a chance to answer.

“Yes, please,” Doc said.  He looked down at the glass as Waverly put some more ice in it, then poured more whiskey.  “I’ve been here for years and sometimes I still find myself marveling at these little ice squares.”

“Ice _cubes_ ,” Waverly corrected.  She looked down at them.  “But, yeah, I guess they’re pretty great.  You know, I went to this hotel in Sweden that was made entirely of ice.”

“Is that right?” Doc asked.  “I’m getting a chill just thinking about it.”

“No, it was nice,” Waverly said, starting to be a bit lost in thought.  “It was peaceful.”

“Unlike here?”

Waverly gave him a look as she put the whisky bottle back on the shelf.  “This isn’t exactly the quietest place on Earth, no.”

“And that’s what you hit the road for?” Doc asked.  “For quiet?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Waverly said.  She knew Doc had this charm that could make anyone talk, and she wasn’t immune to it, but she didn’t mind.  Doc treated her about the same as he did before she left, and he was the only one who did.  She sighed.  “Weirdly enough, I came back and got quiet here, too.  Wynonna will barely talk to me.”

“Aren’t you staying at the homestead?  Surely you’ve exchanged some words.”

“No, we have,” Waverly said.  “We’ve talked, of course.  But we haven’t _talked,_ you know?  Nicole’s the same way, I tried to apologize and she wasn’t having it.”

“Did you try to apologize to Wynonna?”

“I did, I apologized for taking her money.”

“But not for leaving?”

Waverly looked at him.  She honestly hadn’t considered that.  “I couldn’t have stayed.”

“I’m not saying that you could have, or should have,” Doc said.  “That is up to you.  I am merely suggesting that Nicole was not the only one you hurt when you left.”

He downed the last of his drink.

“If you’ll excuse me, I see that there is a poker game starting up in the corner.  I am inclined to join them.”

He tipped his cap as he stood.

“Wait,” Waverly said.  She refilled his drink, probably taking a little longer than she needed to.  “Doc, I-.”

“Waverly, I’ve been a poker player for some one hundred and thirty years now,” Doc said.  “I can read a person’s eyes.  I can tell when they are looking to fold.  You do not owe me an apology.”

Waverly smiled slightly and nodded.

“But not everyone is so finely attuned to the predictions of other people’s behaviors.”  He tipped his cap.  “Have a good night, Waverly.”

“You too, Doc.”

**-WE-**

Waverly knocked on the door to Wynonna’s work room when she got home that night.

“Hey,” Waverly said softly when Wynonna looked at her.  She pulled something out from behind her back.  “The only thing you had in the kitchen when I got here was corn chips, and I ate them all.  I bought some more.”

“Thanks,” Wynonna said, taking the bag and putting it on the desk next to her.

She went back to the file on the table, but clearly wasn’t completely into it.

“I’m sorry,” Waverly said.

“Dude, eat all the corn chips you want, it's fine.”

“No, not for that.  I’m sorry I left.”

Wynonna looked up at that.

“Well, no, I’m not.  I’m not sorry I left.  I’m really sorry that I hurt you, though.”

Wynonna didn’t know what to say.  She looked at Waverly, eyes wide, but in an emotional way more than a shocked way.

“What happened,” Waverly began.  “To me, it wasn’t your fault.  I don’t blame you.”

“Waverly, I should’ve been able to protect you from this-.”

“How?” Waverly asked.  “All of this happened because of I choice I made.  Everything that happened, everything I did when I…wasn’t me.  It was because I touched that stupid puddle.  There was nothing you could’ve done to stop me.  Wynonna, you saved me.”

Again, Wynonna thought back to the night she got the demon out of Waverly.  It was the scariest thing she had ever done.  The only thing that scared her more than being unable to save Waverly was messing up the ritual and hurting Waverly, or even killing her.

“I didn’t think you’d leave,” Wynonna said finally.

“I know.”

“It’s funny, I didn’t think I’d ever be the one in Purgatory without you.”

Wynonna tried to sound like she was joking, but they both could hear the emotion underneath.

“I didn’t think I’d leave you here.”

Wynonna made an agreeing face.

“You were right the other day,” Waverly said.  “I think I did come back for Nicole.”

“You think?”

“I woke up in Casablanca and I was just so tired,” Waverly said.  “The world didn’t seem so exciting anymore.  I just wanted to be back here.  But…I don’t know.”

“But then when you got back, it still didn’t feel right,” Wynonna supplied.  “I know.  I remember.”

Waverly nodded.  “I knew I couldn’t pick up where I left off but I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“Well, this is a start,” Wynonna said.  “Being honest.”

Waverly bit her lip.  “I love you, Wynonna.  I am sorry that I hurt you.  I don’t know if it helps, but I wasn’t trying to.”

“I love you, too, Waves.”

Wynonna stood and pulled Waverly in for a hug.

Waverly accepted it, smiling.  When she pulled back from the hug, though, she saw something strange on Wynonna’s side, through her shirt.

“What the hell is that?”

“What?”

“You got a tattoo?!”

Wynonna lifted her shirt – which she had worn all day and was just now realizing was see-through, not that she particularly cared or minded – and saw the tattoo on her side.

“Oh, yeah, like a year ago.”

Waverly sighed.  “We have some catching up to do, huh?”

Wynonna nodded.  “Probably.”  She took the bag of corn chips off the table and opened it, offering the bag’s contents to Waverly.  “Shall we get started?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Dolls isn't in this chapter, but what did we think of him in the last chapter? He was hands down the hardest to write.  
> Also! What do you think of this chapter? Please leave a comment! Thanks for reading!


	3. References and Runs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so quick trigger warning for forced restraints and captivity. I'm not quite sure how to label those but better safe than sorry. They relate to what happened when Waverly was possessed but it can be skipped, it's the section after Nicole rolls her eyes at Wynonna. The beginning of that section is a lot about what happened to Waverly when she was possessed, and if you don't want to read that, scroll until there's dialogue and it's clear from there on out. Safe reading, everybody! :)

“Good morning,” Waverly said.  She was making herself breakfast when Wynonna walked into the kitchen.

“Hey,” Wynonna said.

“Do you want anything?”

“Nope, I’ve got breakfast plans.”

“Do you have a date?” Waverly asked, starting to grin.  “Is it will Dolls?”

“No, it’s not with him and it’s not a date.  It’s just a probably unhealthy devotion to diner pancakes,” Wynonna said.  “I’ll see you later, though.  Are you sure you don’t want me there when you talk to Dolls?”

Waverly nodded.  It had been a few days since she and Wynonna started to settle things.  They were a lot better, both together and also individually.  Waverly was figuring out what she wanted more and more, and she wanted to go back to Black Badge.

But, that meant talking to Dolls.  Dolls, who did not especially go out of his way to see Waverly since she’d been back.

“I’m good,” Waverly said.  She took a deep breath.  “Best to just rip the band-aid off and get it over with, right?”

Waverly had been back for almost a week, then, but she had only just very recently decided to go back to Black Badge.

Wynonna shrugged.  “Yeah, sure.  I don’t know why he wouldn’t let you back in, though.”

“Don’t they look down on deserters in the Rangers?”

“You’re not a deserter,” Wynonna said.  “Or a Ranger, for that matter.”

Waverly softened, but only a bit.

“He is going to give you a hard time, though.”

Waverly groaned.

“This is pretty much how it goes,” Wynonna said, drawing from her own experience.  “You come back, it takes some people a week or two to warm up, then they do.  Or they don’t.  But it’ll definitely just be another week or so until you know for sure.”

“That is not helpful!”

Wynonna shrugged.  She grabbed her coat and left.

**-WE-**

Waverly couldn’t remember the last time she knocked before entering the Black Badge office.  She hadn’t stepped foot in the police station since she’d been back.  It was a place she had spent a lot of time, sure, but it was never hers.  It was Wynonna’s and Dolls’ and Nicole’s.  Going there before this felt like an invasion of some sort.

It looked the same – Purgatory wasn’t much for makeovers or renovations – but it felt different.  That, combined with the oddness of knocking on the BBD door, made for a strange feeling.

“Enter,” Dolls called from inside the room, after a few moments that Waverly knew was spent closing files and covering documents.

“Hey,” Waverly said, walking in and taking great care to shut the door behind her.  If she was being honest with herself, she knew she was stalling.

“Hi, Waverly,” Dolls said.  He leaned back in his chair.  “What?”

Waverly nodded.  “Oh, Dolls, you were always a man of many words.”

Dolls just looked at Waverly with that intense gaze of his, she felt like it was going through her.

“Right,” Waverly tried again.  She cleared her throat, stood up straight.  “Look, I want back in to Black Badge.”

“In what capacity?” Dolls asked.  “Wynonna has more than adeptly filled the role of researcher in your absence.”

“I know,” Waverly said.  She paused, but only for just a moment.  “I’ll find a way to help out.  You are branching out into investigations of other supernatural activity in the area, right?  This is a big place, research could be a two person job.”

“We’ve put down forty-four revenants in the past two years,” Dolls said.  “All while taking on and closing other cases.”

“Okay, fine,” Waverly admitted.  “If you don’t want me here, you can just say so.”

“I’m not saying that.”

“I’m back,” Waverly said.  “This is what I do.  What I did.  I want to do this.”

“You have options, Waverly,” Dolls said.  “You’re the best researcher I’ve ever worked with.”

“Exactly,” Waverly cut in.  “So I should-.”

“Be applying those skills to whatever you really want to do,” Dolls said.  “You could go back to school.  You could work in a university or a library or an archive.  Don’t limit yourself to this.”

“I’m not limiting myself,” Waverly said.  “I want to do this.  And if, at some point, I ever stop wanting it, I’ll let you know.”

Dolls laughed a bit.  “So I can expect your two weeks notice next time?”

Waverly nodded.  “I will be the model employee.”  Her smile faltered a bit.  “That is, if I am your employee.”

“Waverly, you will always have a place at BBD,” Dolls said.  “It’s not the only place in the world for you, though.  I’ve been told I write a strong reference letter.”

“By who?” Waverly laughed.

“All the people I’ve written reference letters for.”

Waverly rolled her eyes.

“Listen, you can be formally deputized but you’re going to need to go through training.  Gun training, physical and written tests, the whole shebang.  We’re going to have to be by the books on you.”

Waverly nodded.  “Because I went a little off the rails last time and your superiors definitely noticed.  Got it.”

“Waverly-.”

“No, it’s fine,” Waverly said.  “I will be the model deputy.”

“Good,” Dolls said, standing.  “I’ll schedule the testing for two weeks from now, is that enough time for you?”

Waverly nodded.  “I love tests.”

Dolls stuck out his hand, which Waverly took and shook.

“Welcome back to the Black Badge Division, Earp.”

**-WE-**

Waverly left Black Badge with a grin on her face.  The station was starting to feel a bit more comfortable to her.

She turned down the hallway and saw Wynonna and Nicole walking together toward her.

“Oh,” Waverly said.  “Hi.”

“Hey,” Wynonna said, not at all pausing from any awkwardness.

“Hi,” Nicole said, a bit after.

Waverly and Nicole looked at each other.  They hadn’t really spoken much since that day in Shorty’s, though they had seen each other.  Usually it’d just be a wave, or a “hello,” or something polite.

“So, how’d it go?” Wynonna asked, wanting to save both of them from this little awkward situation.

“It went well,” Waverly said.  “I’ll be testing in two weeks but, assuming I pass, after that I’ll be a full-fledged Black Badge deputy.”

“Congrats!” Wynonna said, giving Waverly an enthusiastic high-five.

“Yeah, congrats,” Nicole said, smiling not fully but still genuinely.  “That sounds great.”  She cocked her head a bit.  “And kind of permanent.”

Waverly nodded, looking right into Nicole’s eyes.  “Yeah.”

Wynonna cleared her throat.  “That’ll be good though, right?  They can’t come for you again if you’re demon-free and also one of them.”

“I mean, they came for Dolls,” Waverly said.  Wynonna did not appreciate that reminder.  “That’s why we’re doing this by the books, though.  We’re thinking that if I can prove that I can contribute without…getting that way again, they should leave me alone.”

Wynonna nodded.  “Good.”

Waverly nodded in agreement.

“So,” she said.  “What, did you two carpool today?  That’s cute.”

Wynonna and Nicole exchanged a look that did not go unnoticed by Waverly.

“Oh, shit, is she your breakfast date?” Waverly asked Wynonna, very amused.

Nicole turned to Wynonna, eyebrow cocked.  “Date, eh?  You made me pay.”

“Not a date,” Wynonna said.  “Just friends getting pancakes.  Is that not allowed?”

Waverly shrugged.  “Wynonna, you can get pancakes with whoever you want, date or not.”

“Definitely not,” Nicole added, keeping up the joking tone.  “She’s definitely not my type.”

And that about killed the joking tone.

There was a short, tense, awkward look between Waverly and Nicole.

“Right,” Waverly said.  “I should go.  Have a good day, you guys.”

“You too,” Wynonna said, looking over at her shoulder at Waverly walking out.

She turned back to Nicole once Waverly made it out.

“That was smooth, Haught.”

“Shut up,” Nicole rolled her eyes.

**-WE-**

Waverly was a runner.  Lately, in the figurative sense, but for her whole life, also in the literal sense.  She ran track in high school and ran consistently after that.  It helped her clear her head.

When she was away, she didn’t run as much.  She did when she could, but juggling time zones, luggage constraints, and unfamiliar and rapidly changing locales, it was hard to run with consistency.

So, she set out to start running again when Dolls told her that she’d be physically tested for her badge, and she didn’t think it’d be that bad getting back into the habit.

She was wrong.  It was awful.

She ran the route that was familiar to her – a route through town that she first started doing in high school, then extended and kept up with afterward, when she lived above Shorty’s.  She took Nicole on it a few times, when they were together.

So, she ran.  It made things feel more normal, too, to engage in this activity of old going through these familiar places.  It was early morning, the best time to run in her opinion, since there were few people on the roads and the view was incredible.

She thought.  She remembered the days before her exorcism.  She didn’t remember much about what she did.  All she could remember about being possessed were feelings – the feeling of being trapped in her own mind, unable to force out the evil presence and its thoughts.  She remembered feeling helpless, and terrified, and hunted.

When Dolls’ superiors declared war on Dolls, Wynonna, and Purgatory when they first took Dolls, after Willa and Bobo died, they started a witch hunt for supernatural or demonic beings.

They mostly left the revenants alone – they were Wynonna’s problem and even more so, not going to be a problem for much longer since Dolls’ superior had every intention of blowing up Purgatory and all its inhabitants.  But, they'd heard about Waverly one way or another, and they were gunning for her.

A lot of what Waverly knew about her possession was things she had been told.  She remembered the feeling of the gun in her hand, the feeling of pulling the trigger.  She remembered looking down her arm, seeing a gun in her own hand pointed at Wynonna, then seeing her own hand pull the trigger.

Doc had seen Waverly reach for the gun and, being the fastest draw to ever live, he drew first and shot just a fraction of a second before she did, knocking her shot off target.  It grazed Wynonna’s scalp, leaving a scar that could only really be seen if it was looked for under her hair.

After that, they tied Waverly up.  Waverly could remember the feeling of her own limbs thrashing against the people holding her down, the people she loved, as they desperately tried to get her under control.  They kept her tied up in a safehouse.  Nicole had staked out for days, armed with the cache of weapons Dolls had left behind at the homestead’s barn, ready to stop anyone coming for Waverly.

Waverly remembered being full of hatred and anger.  She remembered the feeling of yelling, of screaming while being restrained.  She remembered that she could tell that she had hit a lot of nerves with Nicole.  She remembered liking that.

Nicole guarded Waverly for days on end while Wynonna, Doc, and a few of Dolls’ old friends that Wynonna tracked down freed him from his Black Badge prison.  Waverly didn’t exactly remember how, and she didn’t know how to ask, but she knew that they managed to get Dolls freed permanently.  His superior who was trying to destroy his career was reassigned (or that’s what they were told) and Dolls was permitted to keep working at his Black Badge outpost in Purgatory.  That took time, though.

During the time after Dolls was freed and before he was exonerated, the Black Badge higher ups came for Waverly, and they came hard.  They knew she was possessed and they knew that the best way to get to Dolls was through Wynonna, and the best way to get to her was through Waverly.

There were some close calls, too.  For weeks, Waverly was tied up, both for her own protection and for the protection of those around her.  Still, she'd scream and thrash.  Waverly was somewhere in there and they all knew it, but she was being controlled by the demon.  Wynonna, Dolls, Nicole, Doc, they all worked tirelessly to find the cure for Waverly, and the way to stop Dolls’ superiors.

Dolls eventually found a way to exonerate himself and stop his superior, but it was Wynonna who found the way to cure Waverly.  That time, that frantic time in which Wynonna’s two most valued people in her life were at incredible risk, was the time when Wynonna really honed her research and investigative skills.

So, they cured Waverly, and then the reconstruction began.  Waverly was physically unwell – being tied up for weeks will do that to a person.  She was mentally spent – having your mind occupied by an evil force for weeks on end will also do that to a person.  She could remember the feelings of all of it, but not the actions.  She remembered feeling the most intense fury and hatred she’s ever felt, then she’d be informed of things she’d said or tried to do and those feelings would just intensify.

So, she ran, thinking about that.  Her lungs were on fire, her legs were burning, but she couldn’t stop running with all those thoughts in her mind.

Until, she ran into a familiar face.

Turning a corner, she literally ran into someone.

“Shit, sorry.”  Waverly looked up and saw that she had ran into Nicole.  “Oh, hi.  You alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Nicole laughed.  “You’re, like, five feet tall.  It was like hitting a speedbump.”

Waverly glared at her, but the upturn in the corners of her lips gave her away.  “I’m five-four.”

“A tall speedbump, then.”

Nicole smiled and Waverly’s heart hurt.  She knew it was probably because she’d just run more in one morning than she had in the past month, but it was also because Nicole’s smile still did that to Waverly’s heart.

“I didn’t know you ran still,” Nicole supplied, filling the brief silence.  “I do this route every day, I haven’t seen you.”

“It’s my first day back,” Waverly said.  “I’ve got to shape up for my BBD exams.”

“Your shape is fine.”  Nicole frowned.  “Um.”  It was still a bit weird to speak like that to Waverly.

Waverly laughed, relieving some of the tension.  “I get what you mean.  Thanks.”

“How far in are you?” Nicole asked, a bit in disbelief at herself as she said the words.  “I was just getting started.”

Waverly frowned apologetically.  “I was just finishing up.”

Nicole nodded.  She ran the route that she ran with Waverly years ago, but now remembered that she did it in reverse.  So, while she’s only been at it for less than ten minutes, Waverly’s been at it for a while.

“Ah,” Nicole said.  “Yeah, you should take it easy, then.  Don’t want to overdo it.”

Waverly nodded in agreement.  “Yeah, I’m definitely going to regret going this hard in the morning.”

“No way,” Nicole said.  “Waverly Earp’s not one for regrets, is she?”

Waverly wasn’t sure how to respond to that.  “No, I guess not,” she said finally.  She looked at Nicole and again was struck by how much she cared about this person.  With all the shit that the snake goo demon made her feel, it was hard for Waverly to remember what being in love felt like sometimes.  But looking at Nicole made her remember, or at the very least want to.

“Nicole, I-.”

“No,” Nicole said, stopping Waverly.  “I can’t hear you apologize, not yet.”

Waverly nodded.  “I just wanted to say that I get it, if you’re not ready or if you never will be.  I know that I hurt you when I left, and before.  If I had any regrets, it’d be that.  You’re the last person I would ever want to hurt.”

“But I’m on the list?” Nicole joked.

Waverly appreciated it but didn’t keep the tone up.

She shrugged.  “I just wanted to say that.  I know things are weird between us and I know it’s my fault-.”

“It’s not your fault,” Nicole said.  “I mean, yeah, you chose to leave and you chose to not speak to me for two years.  And that sucked, Wave.  That was awful.  But I get it.  I understand that you felt like you couldn’t stay here with me.  It’s not anyone’s fault, it’s just what happened.”

Waverly nodded, looking down so Nicole couldn’t see the tears in her eyes.

“Yeah,” Waverly said, softly.

“I thought for a really long time about what I would do if I saw you again,” Nicole said.  “Then, after a while, I didn’t let myself think about it at all.  Even when you came back, I didn’t let myself think about it.  I didn’t want to think about you staying.”

“Nicole-.”

“Please, don’t tell me why you’re staying,” Nicole said.  She had a suspicion that Waverly was staying, at least in part, for her.  And she didn’t know what to make of that, whether it turned out to be true or not.  “I know it must be hard for you.  I can’t even imagine how hard.  You’re always going to be important to me, Waverly.  I want you to be alright.”

Waverly didn’t bother trying to stop the tears now.  “You shouldn’t be so good to me, after what I did – what happened.”

Nicole smiled slightly, remembering a snowy afternoon in her police cruiser.  “Well, I think you date too many shitheads.”

Waverly shook her head, looking right at Nicole.  “Not all of them.  All but one, really.”

Nicole paused, clearly gathering herself to be able to ask what she was about to ask.  “Did you get involved with anyone?  When you were away?”

Waverly shook her head.  “I wasn’t in any place to be involved with anyone.”

Nicole nodded, taking that in.

“Were you?” Waverly asked.  “When I was away, were you involved with anyone?”

Nicole looked hesitant to answer.  “I mean, it’s a small town, options are kind of limited.”  Waverly looked at her like she didn’t believe her.  “Yeah, I dated a few girls.  Nothing serious though.”

“And now you’re going on pancake dates with my sister.”

Nicole let out a laugh.  She didn’t think the conversation was headed that way.

“We’re good friends,” she said.  “Friends get breakfast together…every Friday….”

“You have a standing weekly breakfast date with Wynonna?”  She laughed, hard.  “Wow.”

“She’s even paid a few times, which I think is the biggest achievement in our friendship.”

“Sounds like.”

Nicole’s watch beeped, so she looked away from Waverly to look at it.

“Sorry, it has this weird feature where it tracks your pace when you run, and right now it is not very happy with me.”

“Oh, yeah, definitely get back to it, then.”

Nicole paused for just a moment.  “You said you went pretty hard.  Let me walk you to your car.”

“No, it’s okay, I don’t want to derail your run anymore…”

“It’s not derailing anything, I’ll just start from there,” Nicole said.  She nudged Waverly with her elbow.  “Come on.”

Waverly nodded.  “Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright what do we think? I know the part about what Waverly is thinking about when she is running is really long and dark and prose-y but I think it's something she'd think about and not talk about, and I liked the idea of kind of getting it all in there a few chapters in rather than sort of peppered throughout. What do you guys think?


	4. Everything's Fine

_We’re friends  Friends run together.  That’s not anything new, we’ve done it before,_ Waverly thought to herself as she walked to Nicole’s apartment.

 _Not to her apartment,_ Waverly corrected in her head.  _Just to where she starts her runs from.  Because if I’m asking her to run with me, the least I can do is start from where she's used to starting._

So, Waverly found herself on Nicole’s block that morning.  She stood outside Nicole’s building for a bit, stretching.  It was the same time she ran the day before, and she figured Nicole ran at the same time everyday.  So, Waverly figured all she had to do was wait.

And wait she did.  She stood there for a few minutes, then realized it was strange to stand around an apartment building that wasn’t hers just after sunrise on a Sunday morning.  So, she stretched a bit more, trying to look like she wasn’t just loitering and waiting.  Still, Nicole didn’t show up.

She jogged down the block, then back, then down and back again.

It was getting late and still no Nicole.

She briefly considered calling Nicole, but she didn’t want to disturb her.  Maybe she was asleep (though Waverly remembered Nicole being an early riser).  Maybe she took Sundays off from running (though Waverly knew that Nicole liked her off days to be weekdays).  Maybe she didn’t want to see Waverly.

Waverly set out on her run, trying not to think about that.  Her legs were sore (though all the stretching did help) but she felt herself making good time.  Better than she expected, actually. That cheered her up a bit.  She ran, focused only on running, letting her mind go blank.

“Waverly!”

Waverly was pulled out of her running-induced trance by someone calling her name.  She looked across the street and saw Nicole.

“Hey,” Waverly called back.

“How long have you been running?  I didn’t see you where you usually started.”

“You were looking for me?” Waverly asked, crossing the street.

Nicole blushed a bit, but didn’t miss a beat.  “I can't pass up an opportunity to smoke you."

Waverly laughed.  “I seem to remember you always eating my dust, not the other way around.”

“Well, I’ve had some time to practice,” Nicole said.  She nodded. “Come on, join me.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Nicole said.  “If you’re not too far into your run.  Or, too scared to race me.”

Waverly laughed.  “In your dreams, Nicole.”

Nicole stepped in a bit closer.  “Trust me, Waverly,” she said, voice low.  “This is not what we’re doing in my dreams.”

She smirked and ran off, leaving Waverly stunned, standing there.  She never really forgot how smooth Nicole could be, but seeing it in action was like being hit by a truck.

“Come on, slow poke!” Nicole called over her shoulder, almost the full block’s length ahead of Waverly.

Waverly snapped out of it, shaking her head but grinning, and ran to catch up.

**-WE-**

A few days later, Waverly and Nicole were still in their habit of running together.

“Hey, you don’t mind me running with you, right?” Waverly asked.

Nicole looked over at her.  “No, of course not.  I asked you to join me.”

Waverly nodded.  “Okay, cool.  Thanks.”

“I mean, this is what friends do, right?” Nicole asked, feeling a bit of a pang in her chest and trying not to call it shame.  “Friends go on runs together.”

Waverly nodded, jaw set a bit tighter this time.  “Friends.  Yeah.”

“Is that not cool?”

“No, it’s great.”

Nicole gave her a sideways glance but didn’t know where to go from there.  So, they did the rest of the run in silence.

**-WE-**

Waverly spent her mornings (part of them, anyway) running with Nicole, and the rest of her day was pretty packed.  She worked at Shorty’s and when she wasn’t working, she was studying for her BBD exams or going through all the research Wynonna and Dolls had done in her absence.

She was reading through Wynonna’s files when Wynonna came home, the night of that friend conversation with Nicole.

“Hey there,” Wynonna said.  “Starting early, as we?”

Waverly looked up.  In addition to the open files on her desk, there was an open bottle of gin.

“I only had a half-shift today, figured I’d drink tonight,” Waverly said, a hint of a defensive tone in her voice.

“Go for it, dude,” Wynonna said.  “Is there anything else going on?  I mean, gin straight from the bottle isn’t your average after-work drink.”

Waverly turned to look at Wynonna.  “Nicole and I have been running together for the past few days.  She asked me to join her and she flirted with me-.”

“She flirts with everybody, I'm pretty sure she doesn't have an off switch.”

Waverly did not look consoled.

“Not the time, got it,” Wynonna said.

“And then today she made it clear that we’re friends.”

“What’s wrong with being friends?” Wynonna asked.  “Surely it’s better than nothing.”

“No, yeah, it is,” Waverly said.  “I just…I don’t know.  Being friends is hard when you want to be something else.”

“Nicole managed it when you first met.”

Waverly couldn’t help but agree.  It was a truth pretty much universally acknowledged that Nicole Haught had been a goner for Waverly Earp since the moment she met her.  It was also a truth pretty much universally acknowledged that Nicole had been nothing but respectful and patient with Waverly, both before they got together and after.

Waverly loved Nicole in a lot of ways, but loving her as a friend was the first way.  The time she’d spent with Nicole had made all of her feelings for Nicole come back.  She loved her in all those ways still.  She knew she never really stopped, it just got pushed to the side and maybe got a little lost, what with all the other shit going on.

If friends was what Nicole wanted, friends was what Nicole was going to get.  Waverly wanted to make Nicole happy, this just wasn’t exactly what she had in mind.

She didn’t know what to say to Wynonna, so she took a drink.

“She said she dated people when I was away.”

“And you didn’t?” Wynonna asked.

Waverly shook her head, and Wynonna looked surprised.

“Really?”

“Yes, really,” Waverly said.  “I could barely handle relationships with people I knew, I wasn’t really down to start any new ones.”

“What did you do, then?” Wynonna asked, sadness starting to tinge her voice.  “I mean, you sent me pictures with people all over the world.  Of course you made friends.”

“Yeah, I made friends, I guess,” Waverly said.  “But in those places.  We met at bars or on hikes or at historical sites or whatever, we’d hang out while we were all in that place but then we’d go our separate ways.”

“So you were on your own.”

“You know how it is,” Waverly said.  “If you’re moving around a lot, you can’t put down roots.”

“You want roots here?” Wynonna asked.  “With Nicole?”

Waverly looked at her, deciding how to respond.  “What about you, huh?  Don’t think I haven’t noticed Dolls’ stuff all over the place.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“He’s got several drawers in your dresser,” Waverly said.  “I’m going to guess that the big thing of protein powder in the kitchen is his and not yours.  Wynonna, I found his underwear in the washing machine yesterday.”

“There are worse places you could’ve found that.”

Waverly rolled her eyes.  “There are worse places to put down roots.”

“I don’t know, I really liked Greece…”

“Does Dolls like Greece?”

Wynonna scowled.  “You ask a lot of questions when you’re drunk.  Too many questions.”

Waverly shrugged.

“What file are you reading?” Wynonna asked, lifting the cover a bit.  “Oh, that’s a fun one.”

“You did really great work with this,” Waverly said.  “Really, you’re filing system is so well organized.  And the reports themselves…I’m jealous.”

“Aw, shucks.”

“I mean it,” Waverly said.  “These files are amazing.”

Wynonna smiled.  “Thanks.”

**-WE-**

“I’m sorry about yesterday,” Waverly said as Nicole walked toward her, meeting up to start the run.

Nicole looked at her and acknowledged her, but didn’t say anything.

“When you said friends, I was kind of an asshole.  I’m sorry.  I want to be your friend.”

“Friends is all I want right now,” Nicole said, almost like a warning.

Waverly nodded.  “Understood.”

Nicole nodded.  “Alright, let’s go.”

**-WE-**

“Are you okay?  You seem a bit off this morning.”

“I’m super hungover,” Waverly replied, trailing a few steps behind Nicole, well into their run.

“Wild night last night?” Nicole asked after a moment.  Waverly never really drank so much that she got hungover like this, so Nicole didn’t want to think about what happened yesterday that would make her get like that.

“Oh yeah,” Waverly said.  “Wynonna’s BBD files, a bottle of gin.  “Very wild.”

“Sounds like,” Nicole said.  “I didn’t know you drank gin.”

“I’m a woman of mystery,” Waverly said with an exaggerated hand motion.  “I didn’t want to come all the way back into town once I got home, and it was the only thing we had that wasn’t whiskey.”

“Ah.”

They ran quietly for a few moments, then Nicole spoke up.

“Hey, so, I have a date tonight.”

Waverly fell behind just a bit more, slowing down from her surprise.

“Yeah?” she asked.  “That sounds fun.”

“Yeah, that’s the idea.  I set it up last week, but she wasn't free until tonight,” Nicole said.  “I just wanted to let you know.  I didn’t want you to hear from anyone else.”

“Thanks,” Waverly said.  “I mean, we can talk about it, if you want.  Friends talk about the dates they go on.”

Nicole laughed.  “No, I’m not going to make you listen to that.”

Waverly didn’t quite know what to make of that.  “Okay.  Thanks.”

They ran a bit more, then Waverly spoke again.

“I mean, it is cool,” Waverly said.  “If you want to talk about your dates.”

“Thanks, but I don’t want to talk about them.”

**-WE-**

“How’d the date go?” Wynonna asked Nicole as they made coffee at the station the next morning.

“It went fine,” Nicole said.

“Fine?” Wynonna asked.  “What does ‘fine’ mean?”

“I don’t know, it means we didn’t really click,” Nicole said.  “She was really nice and all, I just don’t really want to go on another date with her.”

“Does she want to see you again?”

“I mean, she said at the end of the date to call her, but people say that at the ends of dates, you know?”

“I never say that.”

“Well, you’re dating your boss, you really don’t need him to call you when you see him everyday.”

“Maybe you should try internet dating or something,” Wynonna said, ignoring Nicole’s comment.  “Maybe meet some girls who aren’t from Purgatory.”

“You trying to get rid of me?”

“No,” Wynonna said.  “But, I don’t know.  Dating could be good for you, and Purgatory is known for it’s very small dating pool.”

“I think I need a break from dating,” Nicole said.  “My heart’s not in it.”

“Yeah?  Then what is it in?”

Nicole was taken aback by that.  “What does that mean?”

“I know things are complicated and shitty but don’t lead Waverly on.”

“I’m not leading her on,” Nicole protested.  “I have made it very clear that we’re just friends.”

“Friends who see each other at least once every day, first thing in the morning?” Wynonna asked.  “And flirt with each other?”

“I am not trying to lead her on.”

“Just because you're not trying to, doesn't mean you aren't."

"Wynonna-!"

"I get that it's messy," Wynonna said.  "Okay?  I know.  But she came back...  You mean a lot to her and she's been through a lot.  Figure out what she means to you or you're going to hurt her, and yourself."

Wynonna took her mug and went into BBD.

Nicole sighed.  She had BBD work to do that morning and she was kind of looking forward to it less than she had been before she got coffee.

She finished off fixing her mug of coffee then went into BBD.

She saw Waverly sitting at the table.

“Hey,” Waverly said, her usual cheery self coming back.

“Hi,” Nicole asked.  She looked back at the door.  “I was just in here.  When did you get here?”

“Just now,” Waverly said.  “I have a practice exam.”

“Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Waverly said.  “How was your date?”

“It was fine.”  She walked to the end of the table and picked up the files she was going to work on.  She looked over at Dolls.  “I’m going to work at my desk.”

Dolls nodded his permission.

Waverly watched Nicole leave for the police side of the building and turned to Wynonna.

“What was that?”

“Nothing for you to worry about, baby girl.”

**-WE-**

Waverly walked into work a few minutes before she had to relieve the other bartender.  So went to the back to put her things away when Earl stopped her.

“Hey,” he said, tossing a Shorty’s shirt at her.  “Your pal Officer Haught got a drink spilled on her.  She’s in the bathroom cleaning up.  Could you give her this?  On the house.”

“Yeah, sure.”

**-WE-**

Waverly knocked tentatively on the door.  She doubted that there was anyone else in the bathroom but Nicole, but still she didn’t want to just barge in.

“Nicole, hey,” she called.  “I have a shirt.”

Nicole held her tongue, Wynonna's warning against flirting replaying in her head.  “Yeah, come in.”

Waverly stepped in.  Nicole was standing in front of the sink, holding her shirt out, trying to wash the beer off.

“What happened?” Waverly laughed.

“I sat too close to some drunken idiot.  He spilled his beer on me,” Nicole said.  She sighed.  “But fear not, I made his friends take him home, so he won’t give you any trouble during your shift.”

“Thanks,” Waverly said.  She held out the shirt.  “Compliments of Earl.”

“Thank you,” Nicole said.  She gave up on trying to wash the beer out of her shirt, throwing the paper towel in the trash.  She had stuff at home that she could wash it better with.  “You know, I’ve made it a goal in life to never end up shirtless in a bar bathroom.”

“You know what they say, there’s a first time for everything.”

Nicole smiled a bit at Waverly, but didn’t really move.

“Right,” Waverly said, picking up on the moment.  “I’ll just…” she turned to leave.

“No, it’s cool, just turn around.”

Waverly stayed turned, but didn’t move.

“I’m sorry about this morning,” Nicole said.  “I didn’t want to snap at you.  I was bothered by something else.”

“It’s fine,” Waverly replied.  “So, the date didn't go well?  I'm sorry.”

“No,” Nicole said.  “It wasn’t bad, but I don’t think I’ll go on another date with her.”

“No?”

“Nah.  Didn’t really click.”  She had her shirt off and was going to put on the Shorty’s one.  “How about you?  How did the practice test go?”

“It went okay,” Waverly said.  “I passed.”

“And that’s just okay?” Nicole laughed.  She stopped laughing.  “Oh, shit.”

“What?”  Waverly was alarmed but didn’t turn.

“Okay, I swear, this was an accident.”

“Shit, Nicole, what?”

“I’m stuck.”

Waverly spun around.  “What?”

She saw Nicole stood there, arms above her head, shirt covering her arms and face.

“I think it’s too small,” Nicole said.  “My head went through, but my shoulders aren’t quite cooperating.”

“Uhm, hang on.”

“What?”

“I’m going to grab another shirt.  What size was that?”

“I don’t know and I can’t really check the tag.”

“Right,” Waverly said.  “I’ll grab a few, I’ll be right back.’

“Waverly don’t leave me in here-!”  Nicole heard the door shut.  “You left, didn’t you?”

There was no response.

“Yup.  Awesome.”

**-WE-**

“Hey, I’m going to help get your shirt off, okay?”

“God, you better be Waverly.”

Waverly laughed, reaching for the shirt.  “Yeah, I am.”

Nicole exhaled in relief as Waverly helped her get her shirt off. 

“Thanks,” she said.  “I owe you one.”

“No, I think we’re about tied for how many times we’ve taken each other’s shirts off in this damn bar.”

Nicole looked down.  She was shirtless, wearing just her bra, and for an instant she thought she should cover up.  But, she didn’t.

Waverly, on the other hand, looked anywhere that was eye level with Nicole or above.  Nicole could swear she could see the determined restraint in Waverly’s face.

“Yeah, I guess we are,” Nicole said.

“Here you go,” Waverly said, maybe a bit too loud, holding her hand full of shirts out to Nicole.  “I grabbed one of every size.”

“Thanks,” Nicole said.  She laughed a bit.  “Wave, you can look.  It’s fine.  You’ve seen this all before.”

Waverly’s cheeks reddened but she looked down.

“That’s a cute bra.”

“Thanks, it was on sale.”

“Yeah?  Where?”

Nicole picked the right shirt from the bunch and handed the rest back to Waverly.

“I’m not sure, but I know I bought it online.  I can check when I get home.”

Waverly nodded.  “Thanks.”

“No, problem,” Nicole said, turning a bit and pulling the shirt over her head.

“Whoa, wait,” Waverly said, grabbing the hem of Nicole’s shirt, stopping her from pulling it down completely.

“Wave-.”

“You got a tattoo, too?”

Nicole exhaled deeply.  She laughed.  “Yeah.”

Waverly pulled up Nicole’s shirt more, getting a better look at the tattoo on her side.

“Holy shit, you and Wynonna got matching tattoos.”

Waverly let go of Nicole’s shirt.

“Oh, that is strange.”

Nicole laughed.  “What’s so strange about two friends having matching tattoos?”

“It’s not just two friends, it’s my sisters and my…” Waverly paused.  “You.”

Nicole squinted at her, a glint in her eye.

“How did you two end up with matching tattoos?”

“Well, like all great decisions, it involved whiskey,” Nicole said.  “A lot of it.  We were hanging out one night and we got very drunk, and she decided we needed friend tattoos.”

“Friend tattoos?”

“I don’t know, Wynonna said some sappy thing about never having a best friend before,” Nicole said.  “And I may have said something similar…”

“You two are best friends?” Waverly asked.  She shook her head.  “I mean, you’ve never had a best friend before?”

“No, yeah, totally.  Everyone was lining up to be best friends with the weirdly tall gay kid who’d reenact ‘Law & Order’ at recess.”

Waverly tried not to laugh but couldn’t help it.  “Did you really reenact ‘Law & Order’ at recess?”

Nicole nodded.  “Yup.  I used to sneak downstairs to watch reruns in the middle of the night, too.”

Waverly full-on laughed now.  “I’m sorry, I’m just picturing tiny Nicole.  It’s very cute.”

“I like to think I still am, thank you very much.”

“You are.”

Nicole looked away for a second.

“I’m glad you’re friends,” Waverly said.  “Not that it matters.  You’re both adults, do what you want.  But I’m glad you’re friends.”

“I’m glad, too.”

Waverly smiled a bit.  “My shift starts soon, I should go…”

“Why did you come back?”

Waverly’s smile fell.  “You don’t know?  You can’t tell?”

“I think I need to hear you say it.  I think I'm ready to hear you say it.”

Waverly looked away for a moment.  She caught a glimpse of the mirror, the reflection of her standing in conversation with Nicole, only an arm’s length away.

“Look, I don’t want to have this conversation in the five minutes before my shift starts.  Can we talk about this later?”

“Yeah,” Nicole said.  “Come over after your shift.”

“Nicole…”

Nicole nodded.  “Wave, come over tonight.”

Waverly looked at Nicole, she really looked at her.  She saw her face, she saw that she didn’t at all regret asking Waverly to come over.  She saw that she wanted it.  Waverly wanted it to.

“Okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we've explained the tattoo, but I still don't know what the tattoo would be, nor do I have any intention of deciding. Oh, the joys of fic writing :) I like the idea of you guys getting to headcanon what it is! So, what are you thinking it is?  
> Also in case you couldn't tell, I love the idea of Nicole and Wynonna being buds. Like, best buds. The best best buds.


	5. That Damn French Braid

There were regular customers at the bar who remembered Waverly, and in the nearly two weeks she’d been back had gotten over the novelty of her return and were joking and chatting with her as they used to.

The last table in the bar that night was a group of regulars like that.

“Alright I called last call like, twenty minutes ago, surely you’re done with these,” Waverly said, taking the glasses off the table.

“Aw, come on, Waverly, what’s the rush?” one regular named Jack asked, clearly pretty drunk.  “You’ve got a hot date?”

“What?” Waverly snapped, almost dropping a glass.  “No!  What?  I just want to go home.”

Jack exchanged a very amused look with his friend, who Waverly recognized as a significantly more sober guy named Tom, and the few other friends at the table.

Waverly turned to Tom.  “He’s pretty drunk, I’ll get him some water.  Are you okay to drive or can I call you a cab?”

“No, I’m good, I only had one,” Tom said, standing.  He walked over to Jack and helped him up.  “Let’s go, buddy.  Can’t hold up our friendly neighborhood barkeep from her date.”

Waverly rolled her eyes.  “It is not a date!” she called over her shoulder as she lugged the glasses back to the kitchen.

**-WE-**

Jack and Tom and their friends liked to give Waverly trouble, but it was all in fun.  They paid their tab and left Waverly a good tip, and were gone within minutes.  Waverly got the last of the work for the night done, then headed over to Nicole’s.

She wondered if she should call Nicole or text her, to be sure she still wanted Waverly to come over, but decided not to chance it.

So, she went right over to Nicole’s after work and marched up to her apartment, not giving herself any time to hesitate.  She knocked on the door and Nicole answered almost immediately.

“Hey,” Waverly said.

“Hi,” Nicole said.  She stepped aside.  “Come in.”

Waverly stepped in and saw Nicole’s two cats standing a few feet away, behind Nicole.  They heard the door open and got curious.  She crouched down.  “Hey, you guys!” she said happily.

Seeing Waverly, both cats went over and greeted her.  Waverly was more than happy to play with them and, despite her long day at work, didn’t mind them climbing on her.

“Oh, I missed you two,” Waverly said, kneeling on the floor now, practically forgetting the reason she was there in the first place.  She loved Nicole a lot in a lot of ways, but she maybe loved Nicole’s cats more right then.

“They missed you,” Nicole said.  “They…” She stopped herself, thinking about what she was about to say and deciding maybe Waverly didn’t need to hear it.

Still, Waverly looked up at her.  “They what?”

Nicole cleared her throat.  “They, uh, sat at the window for days after you left,” she said, trying to sound matter-of-fact and lighthearted (the last thing she wanted was to guilt Waverly) but the subject matter made that kind of difficult.  She shrugged.  “I think they got so used to you coming around, they didn’t know what to do when you stopped.”

“I’m back now,” Waverly said, standing.

Nicole nodded.  “Should we get into it right now, or…?”

Waverly laughed a bit.  “Can we sit somewhere?”

“Yeah, of course.”

**-WE-**

“So you’ve been to every continent?”

Waverly nodded.  “Yep.”

“And how many countries?”

Waverly thought for a moment.  “Sixty-two?  Sixty-three.  Yeah, sixty-three.”

“Holy shit.”

“I mean, it was really easy in places like Europe, there’s a ton of countries really close together.  Same with the Arabian Peninsula, and northern South America.”

“Look at you, such a world traveler.”

“I think I finally understood why Wynonna did it,” Waverly said.  “Like, I understood, but it took actually doing it to completely understand.  After everything that happened, it was good to just…not be here.”

“But now you’re back.”

“I honestly didn’t think I would be,” Waverly said.  “I didn’t really plan on being back ever, if I’m being honest.  I was living day-to-day, going wherever I wanted pretty much on a whim.  It was good, you know?  I spent so much time in my life planning everything and doing what I was supposed to.  It was freeing to do whatever the hell I wanted.”

Nicole nodded, but her heart hurt.  Waverly doing whatever the hell she wanted for two years meant that she stayed away from Nicole for two years.  Until she came back, that is.

“Then, I woke up that morning in Casablanca and it all just felt wrong,” Waverly said.  “I knew I had been running.  I worked jobs, I had money, I was supporting myself just fine.  I could’ve ran forever.  But suddenly I didn’t want to.  Suddenly all I wanted was to be back here.”

“I think most people would’ve stayed in Casablanca.”

Waverly laughed.

“But you’re not most people,” Nicole continued.

They held eye contact for a while.  They’d said a lot, but there was still so much unspoken between them.

“I did everything I wanted to do,” Waverly said.  “Almost everything, anyway.  I swam in every ocean, I went skydiving three times.  I caught and cooked my own geoduck.  I’ve been all over the world and I’ve met people from all over the world and I…”  She paused, trying to figure out what to say.  “There’s no one in the world like you.”

Nicole paused, but only for a moment.  “You know red hair is a recessive gene,” she said, heart pounding.  “There’s not a lot of us.”

“That’s not what I meant.”  She wouldn’t look away this time.

“I know.”

“Nicole, I came back for you,” Waverly said, and Nicole’s jaw actually dropped a bit.  She knew, somewhere deep down, that Waverly had come for her, but it was entirely different to hear Waverly say it.  “Wait, no.  ‘For you’ doesn’t seem like the right wording.  I’m not asking for anything you don’t want or aren’t ready for.  I spent two years trying not to think about what happened and this place and you and everyone here.  When I finally let myself think about it, I realized I missed it.  More than anything, I missed all this.  I missed you.”

“What changed?” Nicole asked.  “Why did you start thinking about all this again?”

“When the people I met would ask me about myself, all I would tell them was where I was from.  I’d say I was Canadian and, like, eighty percent of the time they made a joke about hockey or moose.”

“Really?”

Waverly nodded.  “Yeah, our international legacy is an odd one,” she said, frowning a bit.  “Anyway.  I never talked about anything else.  And then one night in Casablanca, I finally got talking about myself.  I met this person who offered to buy me coffee and they were wearing a silly hat, and they just reminded me of you.”

“My hat is not silly.”

“It’s kind of silly,” Waverly laughed.  “But, after that, I couldn’t stop it anymore.  It was like the gate in my mind holding back all the stuff I was hiding from just broke open and wouldn’t shut.”

Nicole nodded, but wasn’t sure of what to say.  So, Waverly filled the silence.

“I’m sorry,” she said, and Nicole didn’t stop her.  “I’m sorry I hurt you.  I’m sorry that I didn’t write or call or anything.  I am so sorry.”

Nicole looked at Waverly, shaking her head a bit.  Her eyes were full of tears, her throat was thick.  She wanted to speak but she couldn’t, yet.  It took her a few moments, then she finally spoke, voice soft.  “I’m sorry that you had to leave.”

Waverly was about to speak but her phone rang.  She took it out of her pocket, wiping at her eyes with her other hand.

“Shit,” she said.  She looked up Nicole.  “It’s Wynonna.”

“No, yeah, take it,” Nicole said, leaning back – at some point, without either of them noticing, they both had moved in closer to each other during their conversation – and wiping her eyes.

“Wynonna, hey,” Waverly said after shooting Nicole a short, appreciative smile.  “Yeah, I’m good, I, uh….I got caught up at work.  Yeah, I’ll be home soon.  Bye.”

She put her phone back in her pocket.

“Are you alright?” Nicole asked.

Waverly nodded.  “Yeah.  Wynonna got worried when I didn’t come home.  She thought I might’ve left again.”

“Damn.”

“Can you blame her?”

Nicole shrugged.

“Is there something going on with you two?” Waverly asked.

“No,” Nicole said, shaking her head.  “We just had a thing.”

“What, like a fight?” Waverly asked.  Her face dropped.  “About me?”

“No,” Nicole said quickly.  She made a face.  “Sort of.”

“Nicole.”

“She warned me not you lead you on.”

“She _warned_ you?”

“More as my friend, and less as your sister,” Nicole said, knowing that Waverly really did not like being spoken for.  “She’s right, though.  We should be careful with this.”

“What about this is so dangerous?” Waverly shot back, not missing a bit.  Her voice wasn’t aggressive though, it was actually almost the opposite.  It was inviting, it was relaxed.

Nicole smirked.  She pointed at Waverly, who was leaning in again.

“This,” Nicole said.  “This is dangerous.  It’s the middle of the night, you should go home.”

Waverly sighed, only feigning protest.  She knew Nicole (and Wynonna) was right.  “I’ll see you in the morning?”

“Nope,” Nicole said.  “I don’t run on Thursdays.”

Waverly face fell only the slightest bit.

“I’ll see you at work, though.”

Waverly nodded, the faintest smile on her face.  “See you at work.”

“Good night, Waverly.”

“Good night, Nicole.”

Waverly left, and Nicole watched her leave.

**-WE-**

Waverly was with Wynonna and Dolls the next day, doing practice physical tests and gun training.

Wynonna stood at the top of the range, several feet from Waverly, watching her shoot targets.  Since this was by the books, they went to a real gun range, not just to a bunch of bottles and cans set up on a fence in a field.

“Damn, Waves,” Wynonna said.  “You’re a better shot than I remember.”

Waverly gave her a look as she put her gun on the counter and took her earphones off.  “Thanks?”

“That’s what happens when you practice, Earp,” Dolls said to Wynonna.  “I have half a mind to make you re-gun train.”

“I’m great with Peacekeeper, thank you.”

“But not so much with other guns,” Dolls said.  “One of these days, the curse will be broken and you’ll need to carry a regulation firearm.”

Wynonna made a face.  “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

Dolls turned to Waverly.  “This looks good, Waverly.  You’re on track to pass everything with flying colors.”

Waverly grinned.  “Great.”

Dolls took the gun from the counter.  “I’ve got another that I want you to try.  You won’t be tested on it, I just want to see what you think.”

“Okay.”

Dolls went to go get it from his locker, leaving Waverly and Wynonna stood there.

“So what happened at Shorty’s last night?” Wynonna asked, sincerely innocently.  “I didn’t think it’d get that hectic on a Wednesday night.”

“Well, you know how it is,” Waverly said, suddenly very interested in the counter.  “You can never really tell when it’s going to get busy.”

“Yeah, you totally can.  Aside from the demonic activity, this town and its people are incredible predictable.”  Wynonna squinted at her.  “Where were you last night?”

“At Shorty’s,” Waverly said, but her voice cracked just enough to give her away.

“Waverly…” Wynonna said.  “Oh my god, did you go home with someone?  And I interrupted?  I am so sorry!  But good for you, getting back on the horse!  Or, the whatever…”

“No!  Jesus, Wynonna,” Waverly said.  “I was at Nicole’s.”

Wynonna gasped.  “You went home with Nicole?  Waverly!”

“No!” Waverly said.  “I didn’t go home with her.  I stopped by after my shift.”

“You stopped by your ex’s place at, what, one-thirty in the morning?”

“She is not just my ex,” Waverly said.  “She’s _Nicole._ ”

“I don’t know what that means.”

Waverly sighed.  “Neither do I,” she admitted.  “I have two exes, I guess, right?  Her and Champ.  I’m not really going to travel halfway across the world because I missed Champ.”

“You ended up on the other side of the world in the first place to get away from her,” Wynonna said.

“And you, and everything here,” Waverly said.  “I’m done running.”

Wynonna sighed.  “What did you two do last night?”

“We just talked,” Waverly said.  “She was at Shorty’s right before my shift and we talked then, and she ended up asking me why I came back.  I didn’t have time to really talk about me so she told me to come over after my shift.”

“She invited you over in the middle of the night?”

“She’s not leading me on,” Waverly said.  “We needed to clear the air between us.  It’s important to me that we clear things up.”

“You've barely spoken in two years,” Wynonna said.  “Maybe you should be careful-.”

“I love her,” Waverly said.  “Still.  I don't think I ever stopped, or I ever will.”

“I don’t want you to get hurt, baby girl,” Wynonna said.  “Or Nicole, for that matter.”

Waverly shrugged.  “At least if we get hurt now, it’ll be our own fault.  Not some demon interfering.”

Wynonna was about to respond, brows furrowed, when Dolls walked in, effectively ending the conversation.

**-WE-**

Waverly spent all of that day out of the office – she practiced shooting, she ran an obstacle course that Dolls set up that bordered on torture, she sparred with both Wynonna and Dolls.  She was at the range or outside all day, so she didn’t see Nicole.

The next morning, they met up for their usual run.  They hadn’t seen or spoken to each other since the other night at Nicole’s, so they were both a little nervous, not that they were going to let it show.

“I heard you got your ass handed to you by Dolls’ obstacle course yesterday,” Nicole said as she walked up to a stretching Waverly.

Waverly looked up.  “Yeah, pretty much.  I swear, he has too much fun with those things.”

Nicole nodded.  “About six or seven months ago, we had a bit of a demon dry spell.  He thought the best way to keep us on our toes was three days straight of obstacle courses and outdoor training.”

“No way.”

“Yep,” Nicole nodded.  “The man’s creative, we’ve got to give him that.”

“Yeah, so was Nero,” Waverly grumbled.  She stood up.  “You ready to go?”

“Just a minute, my leg’s still kind of tight,” Nicole said, leaning up against the building so she could stretch her calf.

“How was your day yesterday?” Waverly asked, waiting patiently for Nicole to get ready.

“The usual,” Nicole said.  “It’s not a day of policework in Purgatory unless you’ve pulled over a pickup truck for attempting to drag race.”

Waverly laughed.  “Yeah, there aren’t a whole lot of ways of getting kicks around here.”

“Speaking of getting kicks,” Nicole said, looking like she was finishing up stretching.  “The other night, you said you did almost everything you wanted to do when you were away.  What didn’t you do?”

Waverly took a moment to answer, looking at Nicole.  She didn't want to hurt Nicole or herself, but she knew the quickest way to get hurt was to hide things.  She may as well finish what she started the other night.  She looked at Nicole and she wasn't scared, though.  She knew she and Nicole had given each other the power and the ability to really hurt each other, but she wasn't afraid of that like she used to be, like she was the whole time she was away and didn't speak to Nicole.

“I've had this list in my head of things that scared me, of things I'd do if I ever finally got the hell out of here," she said.  "But it's still you.  When I think of what I want to do most in the world, it's still you."

Nicole stood up straight at that, but didn’t speak.  She looked shocked, but not pissed.

Waverly nodded, then took off jogging.

“Come on!” she called over her shoulder, smiling.

Nicole smiled.  Waverly was running, but not going too fast.  Nicole guessed it was probably a combination of soreness from Dolls’ obstacle courses (they were almost impossible) and wanting Nicole to catch her.

“I thought we agreed on friends,” Nicole said.

“Friends don’t keep secrets,” Waverly said.  “I don’t want to hide how I’m feeling, not with you.  Never with you.”

“Well, Waverly Earp,” Nicole said.  Waverly loved hearing Nicole say her name.  “I guess I want to do you, too.”

Waverly slowed, and Nicole slowed, too.  They came to a stop and looked at each other.

“I need to know you’re not just here for me,” Nicole said.  “Tell me that you’re back for me, but also because you want to be here.”

“I want to be here,” Waverly said, nodding.  It was true.  They both had come to understand that Waverly couldn't be back just for Nicole, it wasn't healthy or particularly fair for Nicole to be the only thing tying her to this place.  Waverly had come to love Purgatory, too.  She loved Wynonna and the little makeshift family they had.  She loved her home.  She wanted Nicole in her life again, but if she was honest with herself, she had plenty of reasons to be back and stay back.

“We’re not fixed,” Nicole said.  “We’re not all better.”

“I know,” Waverly said.  “I want to work on this.”

Nicole nodded.  “I do, too.”

There was another moment of eye contact between them and then Nicole held Waverly’s waist and guided her against the building.  It was early morning and no one was around, but not that they would notice.

Nicole kissed Waverly, hands on her waist, feeling Waverly’s hips and remembering how goddamn good Waverly felt in her hands.

Waverly kissed Nicole back, pulling her close by her chin with her other hand finding it’s way into that damn French braid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!!!!! What do we think? Do we like it? Do we not? Let me know what you think please!


	6. Thinking Through

Nicole sat across from Wynonna in the diner that morning and something about her was… _off._   Wynonna could tell that there was something odd about her that day and she was determined to find out what it was.

“What’s up with you?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”  Nicole barely looked up from the cup of coffee she was fixing.

“You’re weird this morning.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yeah, you are,” Wynonna said.  “What’s up?”

Nicole sighed.  “Screw it, I’m sure you’ll hear anyway,” she said, finally looking up.  “I went running with Waverly this morning and we kissed.”

“You what?”

“I kissed her,” Nicole said.  “Like, a lot.”

“What the hell are you doing something like that for?!”  Wynonna reached across the table and smacked Nicole on the arm.

“I know, I know, I shouldn’t have.”

“Damn right you shouldn’t have,” Wynonna said.  “Jesus, Nicole.  Next you’re going to tell me you’re ripping each other’s clothes off in the middle of Shorty’s again.”

Nicole frowned a bit.  “Technically speaking….”

“Nicole!”

“We’ve been talking a lot and really clearing things up,” Nicole said.  “I mean, shit, Wynonna.  She went through so much, I’m not just going to kick her out of my life for good because she was shit at handling it.”

“I’m not saying you should do that,” Wynonna said.  “But there is a middle ground between never speaking again and making out.”

“I know,” Nicole sighed.  “I just got carried away.”

“Clearly.”

“We never resolved anything, you know?” Nicole asked.  “We were good, we were together, then everything went to shit, and then she left.  It wasn’t anyone’s fault, I understand why she left.”

“Understanding it doesn’t make it hurt any less.”

Nicole couldn’t help but nod in agreement.  Wynonna was right.

“And,” Wynonna continued.  “I’ve got some experience in kissing people that I shouldn’t.  It doesn’t resolve anything.”

Nicole took a sip of her coffee.  “What about you?  How are you and Waverly doing?”

“Well, I’m not making out with her.”

Nicole rolled her eyes.

“We’re okay,” Wynonna said.  “Because we got on the same page.  And, we never stopped talking to each other.  That helps.”

“Yeah, I imagine it would.”  Nicole sighed.

**-WE-**

When Wynonna and Nicole went into the cop shop that morning, they ran into Waverly, because of course they did.

It was super awkward.

“Hey,” Waverly said, more to Nicole than Wynonna.

“Hi,” Nicole said.

“Dolls is calling me,” Wynonna said, pointing toward Black Badge and heading inside.

“What was that?” Waverly asked.

“This morning was a mistake.”

“You told Wynonna?!”

“Yeah, I did,” Nicole said.  “Because she’s my best friend.  Life went on without you here, things happened.”

“I know,” Waverly said, confused and bordering on hurt.  “Look, it’s fine, we don’t need to kiss again, things got a bit out of hand-.”

“I don’t think we should run together,” Nicole said.

“Hey now…”

“The new rookies only ever talk about the best routes around here,” Nicole said.  “It’s probably about time I join them.”

“We should talk,” Waverly said.  “Do you want to come over after work?”

“No, Wave,” Nicole said.  She had her hands on her belt, but her knuckles were going white.  “You’re in the office today, right?  I’ll find you after my shift.”

Waverly nodded.  “Okay.”

**-WE-**

“So, walk me through what happened?” Wynonna asked as Nicole drove them to a crime scene.  Waverly and Dolls were at Black Badge, doing her last practice test.  “You make out in an alley and then just carried along running as usual?”

“Pretty much,” Nicole said.  “Can we not talk about it?”

“I don’t get it, though,” Wynonna said.  “Did someone catch you?  What did you even talk about when you were running?  While we’re at it, how do you talk while you’re running?”

“No one caught us, and we just made small talk,” Nicole said.  “I don’t know.  I watched a good movie the other day, we talked about that.  And, if you run for any reason other than being chased, you can have a conversation.”

“Recreational running?” Wynonna asked, nose crinkled.  “No way.”

“We’re going to talk after work today,” Nicole said.  “Probably in the break room.”

“Yeah?  That’ll be good.”

“So good.”  Nicole sighed.  “It was weird.  One minute, kissing Waverly seemed like the best idea on the planet, then the next it felt like a huge mistake.”

“Damn, maybe don’t lead with that.”

“She’s got to feel that too, right?” Nicole asked, to which Wynonna emphatically shrugged.  “She had to know we made a mistake.”

“Well, if she doesn’t know, I’m sure you’ll tell her.”

**-WE-**

“Do you want a coffee?” Nicole asked, shutting the door to the police station break room behind her, watching Waverly sit.

“No.”

Nicole sat across from Waverly.  “I shouldn’t have kissed you this morning.  I’m sorry.”

“Then why did you do it?”

“We’re not dating,” Nicole said, needing to be clear.  “We can’t pick up where we left off.”

“I know,” Waverly said.

"It was a mistake.  It seemed like a good idea, but it wasn't.  If we keep doing things like this, if we keep going on like this and we're not careful, we're going to turn this into something we can't save."

"Save?"

"I care about you, Waverly," Nicole said.  "But, this.  Seeing each other every day, kissing in alleys, talking about what happened but not really talking about it.  I mean, you’re my ex.  This isn’t good.”

“You’re not just another ex to me,” Waverly said, confused.

“Yes, I am,” Nicole said, matching her confusion and climbing towards anger.  “That’s what I became when you left and decided not to speak to me anymore.”

“It was complicated, Nicole-.”

“Yeah, I guess it was,” Nicole said.  “I mean, we were only together for a couple of months, right?  And most of that time was spent hiding.”

“I loved you-.”

“You never told me that.”

“But I did,” Waverly snapped back.  “And I would have told you.  I was going to, before everything happened.”

“But then everything did happen,” Nicole countered.  “We can’t pretend it didn’t.”

“I’m not pretending,” Waverly said.  “I told you what I feel and what I think.  I’m trying to go forward.”

“And I’m not?”

“You kissed me!  And, you’ve barely dated anyone else!”

“Yeah, because I was sad, Waverly!” Nicole’s voice was finally raised.  “I was heartbroken after you left, and I was pissed, and I was hurt.  You hurt me, Waverly.”

Waverly looked at Nicole, mouth agape.

“Just because I didn’t really seriously date anyone else doesn’t mean that I was waiting for you.”

Waverly blinked a few times, like that would make this all clearer or better.  “Oh.”

“I did wait, for a while,” Nicole said.  “At the beginning, when I thought you’d be back after a little while, or you’d call me eventually.  Then I stopped waiting, and I started dreading the day you came back.  Then I stopped thinking about you.”

Waverly didn’t know what to say, and Nicole didn’t want her to say anything.  She needed to get it all out, without getting distracted or sidetracked or dissuaded from saying things that would hurt Waverly.

She had spent so much of the past two weeks trying to be careful, trying to hold back everything that she needed to say but didn’t want to, lest she add to Waverly’s troubles.  She cared about Waverly, of course she did.  She knew Waverly had been through so much but, goddammit, Nicole’s been through a lot, too.

“Then you came back,” Nicole said.  “And I started thinking again, and thinking that leaving wasn’t your fault, that everything that happened wasn’t your fault.  And it’s not, but it also sure as hell isn’t mine, yet here I am, hurt.  Because you left and you didn’t call, and you came back without warning and made me deal with how pissed I am about all that.”

“I was in a really bad place when I left,” Waverly said, quietly, after a few moments.  “I didn’t want to take you down with me.”

“I would’ve gone with you,” Nicole said.  “Maybe not to five dozen countries but to the dark place.  I would’ve wanted to go there with you.  I wanted to help you.”

Waverly looked away, wiping the tear that fell down her cheek.

“But we can’t change that now,” Nicole said.  “What’s done is done and, uh.  That’s all I wanted to say.  We can’t do what we did this morning.”

“And we need time apart,” Waverly said.  “That’s ironic.”

Nicole smiled softly, appreciating the attempt at humor.

“Good night, Waverly.”  Nicole stood up.

“Good night, Nicole.”

**-WE-**

Wynonna walked into the break room and saw Waverly still sitting there.

She put a box of doughnuts on the table.

“Dolls was hoarding these in Black Badge, thought you might like the last one.”

“No, thanks.”

“It’s got sprinkles.”

Waverly gave her a look, so Wynonna sat down across from her and took a bite from the doughnut.

“How are you doing, baby girl?” Wynonna asked.

Waverly shrugged.  “Can’t say you didn’t warn me.”

“I’m not here to gloat,” Wynonna said.  “Not tonight, at least.  Tomorrow, all bets are off.”

“When I was away, it was really easy to forget that life went on here without me,” Waverly said.  “I think maybe that mindset came back with me.”

“I know the feeling,” Wynonna said.  “I wrote Gus a fifty-first birthday card three years in a row one time.  Well, three times.”

Waverly nodded.  “I get why I put off thinking about how much I hurt everyone.  Turns out thinking about it really sucks.”

“Well, you’ve got to think about it to figure out how to fix it,” Wynonna said.  “Or how to move on.”

Waverly nodded, again, but just once this time, biting her lip.

“Come on, let’s get home,” Wynonna said.  “We can order pizza, we can drink whatever obscure imported booze you’d like.  I’ll even let you put pineapple on the pizza.”

“It is the best way to eat pizza,” Waverly reasoned, after a moment.

“You went all the way to Italy and you still think that?” Wynonna asked.  “Shit, we may have to send you back, get your pizza tastes sorted out.”

Waverly rolled her eyes, but stood with Wynonna.  Wynonna put her arm around her little sister and walked with her out of the break room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is shorter than the others. I'm thinking maybe only another chapter or two, I'm kind of running out of steam. This is already longer than I thought it would be. But yeah please let me know what you think! Thank you!


	7. Better Days

“We should celebrate,” Wynonna said.

Waverly looked up from her dinner.  “What?”

“We should celebrate,” Wynonna repeated.  “You took all your exams today, you did hella well.  That deserves a celebration.”

“Wynonna, I took all my exams today,” Waverly countered.  “I’m exhausted.”

“Yeah, but, you don’t have to go in to Black Badge tomorrow and you have Tuesdays off from Shorty’s,” Wynonna said.

“So?”

“So, we can party tonight, and you’ll have all day tomorrow to sleep it off.”

“You won’t, though.”

“I am so beyond the point of needing a full day to cure a hangover.”

Waverly gave her a look.  “You can’t party with just two people.”

“Ah, my dear sister,” Wynonna said.  “I’ve thought of everything.”

**-WE-**

“A gay bar?” Waverly asked, reading the sign over the parking lot that Wynonna just pulled them into.  “Wynonna, no.”

“What’s that saying about the best way to get over someone being to get under someone else?”

“I don’t want to be under anybody!”

“Okay,” Wynonna said.  “I didn’t mean literally, I’m sure it’s negotiable-.”

“I didn’t mean it literally either!” Waverly said.  “Wynonna, what are we doing at a gay bar?”

“You need to have some fun.”

“Movies are fun,” Waverly said.  “Mini golf is fun.”

“This podunk little town’s movie theater is only open on weekends, and the mini golf place is being renovated.”

Waverly cocked an eyebrow at her.

“I did my research!” Wynonna argued.  “Come on, this’ll be good for you.”

“Will it?” Waverly asked.  “I’m not looking to get involved with anyone right now.”

“You think everyone in there is?” Wynonna asked.  “You can meet someone, let off a little steam…”

“Ew.”

“At the very least you can meet someone who’s in the same boat as you.”

“The sad pansexual one, or the ‘getting over your girlfriend two years after you broke up because you got possessed’ one?”

“…Both?”

“Wynonna-.”

“There have got to be people in there getting over break-ups,” Wynonna said.  “Whatever you do with them is up to you two, or however many.  But it might be nice to talk to people you don’t work with, who you never have to see again.”

Waverly looked like she was coming around, but she wasn’t totally there yet.  “I’ve never picked anyone up in a bar,” she said.  “I’ve never picked anyone up, ever.”

Wynonna grinned.  “And that’s where I come in.  I’m the best wingwoman.”

“I do not believe you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Wynonna asked.  “I guess I’ll have to prove it then.”

Waverly groaned.  She looked at the entrance to the bar.  She could see people going in and she could see inside the bar, and it didn’t look awful.  “Fine,” she said.  She looked at the clock.  “We’ll stay, for, like an hour.”

**-WE-**

Wynonna was sort of surprised by how well Waverly was doing at meeting people.  She was fully prepared to be her wingwoman, but the more she thought about it, the more she realized it wasn’t necessary – Waverly had this natural gravity about her that just drew people to her.

Also, it was so obviously her first time to a gay bar that people were drawn to that, too.  Waverly was sort of surprised by the women that would come up to her and make sure she felt good and safe, before trying to flirt with her or anything.  So, Waverly did feel safe and comfortable, and she let herself be more open.

She wasn’t open about everything, but the very basics – if someone asked what brought her out that night, she’d say she was getting over a breakup.

She and Wynonna ended up staying for over three hours.  Wynonna stuck by Waverly a bit at the beginning, then once she saw that Waverly was more than okay on her own, she grabbed a small table near the back, still in view of the bar, and spent most of the night by herself.  She did have a very interesting talk with a lovely man who told her all about polyamory, during which she took notes – and her method of “taking notes” was really just sending everything this man was saying into a group text message with herself, Dolls, and Doc.

Wynonna couldn’t hear Waverly’s conversations from where she was, but she looked alright.  She looked well, even.  She looked like she was genuinely laughing and genuinely making connections.  Wynonna didn’t think Waverly would actually go home with anyone – and neither did Waverly think so – but she was still a bit surprised when Waverly made her way to the small table.

“Hey,” Waverly said.

“Hey there,” Wynonna said.  “Aren’t you the life of the party?”

“People are so nice!” Waverly said.  “I think I’d forgotten that.”

Wynonna needed a moment after that, but only a short one.  She’d had a few drinks, but she wasn’t drunk.  Waverly, on the other hand, was.  And Waverly got super honest when she was drunk.  But she was happy, this wasn’t a sad revelation for her. It was a good one.

“Do you want to jump back in?” Wynonna asked.

Waverly shook her head.  “No, let’s go home.  It’s so late.”

Wynonna was about to protest, but she looked at her phone and saw that it was pretty late.  Still, she spoke.

“I’ve got nowhere to be, baby girl.”

“You’ve got work in the morning,” Waverly said.  “Come on, let’s go home.”

Wynonna shrugged and stood up.  “Okay.  If you’re sure…”

“I am,” Waverly said.  “I’m tired.”

“Okay,” Wynonna laughed a bit.  It’d been a while since she’d seen Waverly so…okay.  So alright, so not-super-happy-but-not-overwhelming-sad-or-exhausted.

“Thanks for taking me here tonight,” Waverly said.  “It was a good idea.”

Wynonna grinned as she put an arm around her little sister.  They walked like that back to the car.

**-WE-**

Waverly wasn’t too hungover the next day, but she still didn’t really leave the house.  She hadn’t been out to a bar full of strangers since she was away, and even then she didn’t feel as free or open or in need of release.  She never really felt like her old self since she’d been gone (or since she left in the first place, to be honest) but she was starting to feel like _someone_.  She wasn’t sure if that was healing or growing or what, but it was good.

So, she went into Black Badge, pretty certain that she’d passed all her exams but not yet having official confirmation.

She was nervous as she knocked on the Black Badge door and was told to enter.

“Congratulations, Waverly,” Dolls said, cutting right to the chase.  “That was the last time you’ll ever have to knock on that door.  Welcome back to Black Badge, Deputy Earp.”

Waverly grinned wide as she took her badge from Dolls and he gave her a handshake, then a hug. 

Waverly smiled into and was surprisingly moved.  Dolls was a way better hugger than she thought he would be.

She moved on to Wynonna, who gave her a super tight hug.  She lifted Waverly and there was some definite spinning.

“Congrats, baby girl!” Wynonna said.  “Welcome to the feds!”

Waverly laughed as Wynonna finally put her down.  “Geez, that’s still weird to hear coming from you.”  She sighed, wiping at her eyes.  “God, I don’t know why I’m getting emotional.”

She hadn’t been formally deputized before she left.  She worked with BBD, but she didn’t have a badge (or a paycheck or a gun).  She was excited and relieved to finally be sitting at the big kid table, as it were.

“You’ve worked hard,” Dolls said.  “You should be proud.”

“I am,” Waverly said.  “I can’t wait to get started, for real.”

“Great, I’ve got cases for you,” Dolls said, reaching behind him and grabbing several thick files.

Waverly happily and eagerly took them.  She was ready.

**-WE-**

Waverly spent the rest of that workday before going to Shorty’s and all of the next day she spent at BBD buried in files, working her cases.

“She’s going to close that case by the weekend,” Dolls quietly said to Wynonna that morning, as they stood at one end of the office, with Waverly at the other.

“Are you going to tell her it took you a month to close your first solo case?”

“Are you going to tell her it took even longer on yours?”

“No,” Wynonna said.  She laughed to herself.  “But you can tell your bosses that the best Marshal in the whole Service is a rookie from Middle-of-Nowhere, Canada.”

“Yeah, they’ll love that back in D.C.,” Dolls smiled.

“Are we even supposed to have badges?” Wynonna asked.  “I mean, we’re not real Marshals.  You just deputized us.”

“You’re not American, you can’t be Marshals anyway.”

“So all this is for show?”

“No,” Dolls said.  “We’re a team, Earp.  Teams get badges.”

“Teams get uniforms.”

“You want us all to dress alike?” Dolls asked.  “We’re a federal law enforcement agency, not a family band.”

“So that’s not a flute in your pocket, you are just happy to see me?”

“The badges mean something,” Dolls said, ignoring that comment.  “It means we’re working together.  It means we’re working to make the world a safer place.”

“So,” Wynonna began.  “How long can we be deputies for?”

“As long as you want,” Dolls said.  “Well, no.  As long as I have the authority to make you deputies.”

“So until you retire,” Wynonna said.  “Or die, or get fired.”

Dolls nodded.  “Yes.  But, you’re not locked into this.  You can walk away whenever you want.”

“Not from the curse, I can’t,” Wynonna said.  “Ask Curtis or Shorty how well that went.”

“When the curse is done, you can get out,” Dolls said, clearly forcing himself to.  Clear to someone who knew him as well as Wynonna did, that is.  “When you can walk away, you can.”

Wynonna cleared her throat a bit.  “Yeah, I don’t think I want to.”

Dolls looked at her.  “Oh.”

“What, are you trying to get rid of me?”

“No, not at all,” Dolls said.

“Good,” Wynonna said.  “I actually like doing this.”

“We could do this anywhere,” Dolls said.  “Once the curse is broken, we can leave the Triangle.  Black Badge has jurisdiction anywhere in the US and Canada.”

Wynonna gave him a look with the slightest grin.  “The curse won’t be broken for another few years, probably, and you’re talking an awful lot about ‘we’.”

Dolls shrugged.  “I don’t know about you or Doc, but I like ‘we’.”

Wynonna jokingly made an unsure face.  “Yeah, I guess I could get used to that.”

They were so into their conversation that they didn’t notice Waverly get up and cross the room.

“Hey,” she said.  “I’m going to get coffee.  Do you want anything?”

Both Dolls and Wynonna shook their heads and watched Waverly go.

**-WE-**

Waverly walked into the break room and saw Nicole standing there, making coffee, with no one else in the room.

For the shortest moment, she thought maybe she should just turn around and come back in a few minutes.  But, she squashed that thought.

“Hey,” she said to Nicole.

They hadn’t spoken in almost a week, since their last talk in that very room.

Still, when Nicole turned and saw Waverly, she grinned a bit.  “Hey.  I heard you passed your exams, congrats!”

“Thank you,” Waverly said, grinning back.  “Yeah, I got the badge and everything.”

“Good for you.  I’m glad.”

“Thanks,” Waverly said.  “I’m glad too.  I like being officially in Black Badge, it feels really good to have a real job that isn’t just a bartender.’

“You are a good bartender.”

“I’m a great bartender,” Waverly said, smirking.  “But it’s nice to be able to put my degree to use.”

“So this is what you want, then?” Nicole asked.  “Working with the Marshals?”

“For now, yeah,” Waverly said.  “I mean, it felt right.  I want to be involved in breaking the curse, I want to be able to use all the knowledge I have.  I don’t know if this is what I want to do forever, but it’s what I want to do now.”

“Spoken like a true planner,” Nicole said sarcastically but not maliciously.

“Planning is great and all, but maybe not all the time,” Waverly said.  “I don’t know, I think I used to try to plan everything and when things got too off track, I didn’t know how to handle it.  Maybe this is me trying to find the middle ground.”

Nicole nodded, and Waverly spoke again before Nicole could.

“Oh, god, I’m sorry,” Waverly said, shaking her head and frowning a bit.  “We’re supposed to be taking it easy, and that was all a bit heavy.”

“Wave, it’s fine,” Nicole said, smiling.  “I’m happy for you, really.  I’m glad that you’re figuring things out.”

“Wynonna took me to a gay bar the other night,” Waverly blurted.

“What?”

“Yeah,” Waverly said.  “I forget where it was, exactly, but it was near the mall-.”

“Yeah, I know what you’re talking about,” Nicole said.  “I’m familiar with all two gay bars in the area.”

Waverly laughed a bit.

“Did you have fun?”

“Yeah,” Waverly said.  “It was nice to talk to people and meet people who don’t know anything about me.”

“Yeah, that definitely has its draws.”

Nicole’s radio went off, cutting off any chance Waverly had to speak.  Nicole listened attentively to it, then turned back to Waverly.

“I’ve got to go,” she said, putting her hand on Waverly's shoulder as she passed.  “But, again, congrats on Black Badge!”

“Thanks,” Waverly said warmly, watching Nicole leave.  She left, and Waverly set out making her coffee.

**-WE-**

And that’s how Waverly Earp and Nicole Haught started speaking again.  The near-week off really helped them cool off and let all their past conversations settle.  They knew where they stood and they knew that it wasn’t exactly solid ground, but at least they knew that.  They were committed to taking it slow in no particular direction as long as it wasn't backward.

But Waverly felt that something was still a bit…not settled.

So, one morning, after a couple of days of friendly but genuine workplace conversation, Waverly walked into the police station before she was due to be at BBD and went right up to the counter, where Nicole was sat.

“Hey,” Nicole said, a bit surprised.  “It’s early.  It’s really early.  Why are you here?”

“I brought you a cappuccino,” Waverly said.  She put the cup on the counter.

“I can see that,” Nicole said.  “Why did you bring me a cappuccino?”

“Because I owed you one,” Waverly said.  “And I want that part of us to be done.”

“Okay.”  Nicole drew out the word, still unsure of Waverly’s intentions and still a bit thrown off by seeing her when she didn’t expect to.

“I’m sorry for how I was when I came back,” Waverly said.  “It took me a really long time to come to terms with the fact that I’m not who I was when I left, and you aren’t, either.  It wasn’t fair of me to hold on to all those feelings and thoughts of you when I wasn’t really sure who either of us was.”

Nicole looked taken aback.  That was definitely not what she expected on this early morning.  Still, she appreciated Waverly’s honesty.

“You don’t need to apologize,” Nicole said.  “I did it, too.  I loved you, Waverly.  I know I never told you when you were you,” she said, thinking back to when Waverly was possessed.  She said it then, both because it was true and also because she thought it might have helped her.  But, she didn’t know if Waverly knew or remembered her saying it.  Once she got better, before she left, Nicole didn’t say it again.  Waverly was still so unresponsive and so not well, she didn’t want to say something that big and risk unsettling her.  “But I did.  I still did when you came back, but not the you that came back, if that makes sense.”

Waverly nodded, voice thick.  “Yeah, it does.”  And it did make sense to her.  What she had said about them both being different people before and after Waverly left and came back, Nicole had felt it, too.

They stayed there in that quiet moment for just a few seconds longer, then Waverly spoke.

“Alright,” she said, patting the countertop.  “That’s it.  That’s all I wanted to say, to really clear everything up.”

Nicole nodded.  “I don’t think I have anything else to add.”

“Neat,” Waverly said, nodding.  “Alright, I’m going to go, then.”

“Waverly,” Nicole said, a bit amused.  It was a very Waverly thing to do, to show up at the beginning of Nicole’s shift when it was still dark out to tell her something important, but it was still strange.

“I’ll see you later,” Waverly said, already walking away.

“Okay,” Nicole said.  “Bye.”

“Bye!”

**-WE-**

It took a few weeks until Waverly and Nicole worked their first case together.

Wynonna had spoken to both of them about if they felt okay with it, and they both did.

They worked so well together, Dolls was tempted to make them permanent partners.

**-WE-**

It took another few months for either of them to start dating, but when they did, Nicole started first.  She would date girls, for more than just the first date now, and it would go well.  She was happy.

Waverly started dating, too.  She'd been known to go on a few second or third dates, too.

They’d talk about their dates and they’d be genuinely happy for each other.  Nicole got serious enough with a girl to have her meet her friends, which included Waverly.  They didn’t last, but Waverly found herself enjoying meeting and hearing about Nicole’s dates.  Nicole liked hearing about Waverly’s, as well.

**-WE-**

About a year after Waverly came back, Nicole asked to run with her again.

“Wave, I need your help,” she said, coming up to Waverly’s desk one day.

“Okay.”

“Not really help, more like a favor.”

“Shoot.”

“The route we usually run on, there’s construction so they put up a detour, but it adds like half a mile to the route.”

“Oh no, not half a mile!”

“Can we run your route?” Nicole asked, ignoring Waverly’s sarcasm.

“You and all the rookies?”

“They’re not technically rookies anymore, but, yeah.”

“Sure.”

**-WE-**

After two weeks of that – Waverly and Nicole weren’t sure if they should curse or praise this construction that went on so long and forced them to run together again, despite Wynonna’s not-so-subtle leanings that it should be the former – Waverly and Nicole ended up running alone together.

“Where are all the rookies?” Waverly asked.

The department hadn’t hired anyone knew since that group of three had been hired, so they were still referred to as “The Rookies.”

“Some of the older deputies decided to pull rank and make them cover their morning shifts,” Nicole said.

“Nedley’s cool with that?”

Nicole shrugged as she stretched.  “It’s good to shake up shifts.  Keeps everyone on their toes.”

“But not you?”

Nicole grinned.  “They don’t mess with the cop who’s been kidnapped, shot twice, and moonlights for the feds.”

“Twice?!”

“Oh, I got shot while you were away.  It was a graze, if anything.  I was fine the next day.”

“Jesus,” Waverly said, starting the run.  “What else did I miss?”

“Well,” Nicole began, following Waverly.  She filled Waverly in on all the good things she missed.

**-WE-**

Nicole never really stopped going to Shorty’s, but she did stop sitting at the bar so often.  She went back to sitting at the bar, chatting with Waverly as she worked.  Waverly didn’t really need to work there anymore, but she liked it.

Waverly would tell her about all the shenanigans she got up to while she was away.  Waverly had already told her some of it, but they were friends with two years of catching up to do.  They were getting to know each other better.  They were getting to know who each other had become in those two years.

**-WE-**

One night, Waverly knocked on the door to Wynonna’s room.  It was well over a year since she’d been back, and her friendship with Nicole was solid.

“Hey, baby girl, what’s up?” Wynonna asked, looking at Waverly who was stood in her doorway.

“I think I like Nicole.”

Wynonna groaned.  “Okay.  What are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing, probably,” Waverly said.  “I mean, right?  I shouldn’t do anything.  We’re friends.  We’re good friends.  We’ve worked really hard to get here, I don’t want to ruin it.”

Wynonna nodded.  “If that’s what you think.”

**-WE-**

Not long after, Nicole was eying Wynonna weirdly over their weekly pancake breakfast.

“Dude, what?” Wynonna asked finally.

“I think I like Waverly.”

“You’re joking.”

“No,” Nicole said.  “I mean, we’re good now, right?  We’re friends and we’re finally over everything that happened.  I shouldn’t mess with that.”

Wynonna sighed.  “No, you should.”

“Wow, try to rein in that enthusiasm, Wynonna.”

“No, I just…” Wynonna paused, collecting her thoughts.  “You two can really hurt each other.”

“I know,” Nicole said.  “Maybe that was the problem last time, that neither of us wanted to admit that.”

**-WE-**

Wynonna didn’t see much of Waverly later that day, but when she did, she made it count.

“Oh, hey, Waves, I’m glad I caught you,” Wynonna said, walking into BBD just as Waverly was about to walk out with Dolls.

“What’s up?”

“I was wrong the other day, you should give it another shot with Nicole.”

“What?” Waverly asked.  “Did she say something?  Wyn-?”

“Waverly, we’ve got to go,” Dolls said, rushing past her with his gear.

Waverly gave one last glance to Wynonna then followed Dolls out.

**-WE-**

That night, Nicole sat at the bar at Shorty’s, which she did even when Waverly wasn't there.  Nicole liked to sit at the bar and see everything and chat with everyone.

Then, Waverly walked in.

“Hey,” she said, as Waverly almost walked past her.

“Hey,” Waverly said, turning back to Nicole.

“I thought you were off tonight.”

“Yeah, I’m just picking up my check.”

Nicole nodded.  “Cool.”

There was a bit of a silence.

“Do you want to sit and have a drink with me?”

“No, I’ve got to get going, actually,” Waverly said.  “I’m just here to get my check.”

“Oh, you’ve got big Tuesday night plans?”

“No, no,” Waverly laughed.  “I just have plans with Doc.”

“Ah, well, give him my regards,” Nicole said, tipping her cap.

“I will.”

The silence hung between them as Waverly still didn’t move.  They were both nervous, a bit too much to notice that the other one felt it too.

“Hey, so-,” Wavery tried, wanting to break the silence.

“Do you want to go out with me?” Nicole asked, cutting her off.

“What?”

Nicole grimaced.  “I know, that sounded very high school,” she said.  “I just…I like you, Waverly.  We’re good, we can give this another try.  If we want.”

“I want to,” Waverly said, stepping toward Nicole.  “I was just about to ask you.”

“Really?” Nicole laughed.

“Yes,” Waverly said.  “And, I like you, too.  Which is why I think we should be careful.”

Nicole nodded.  “Agreed.  But, I trust you Waves.  And I know that we give each a lot if power to hurt each other.”

“I trust you, too,” Waverly said  walking toward her.  “It’s weird, to know, to really know, how much we can hurt each other, but I think for the first time I know that, and it doesn’t scare me.”

“Me neither.”

“We should have boundaries though,” Waverly said.  “We shouldn’t rush.”

“Boundaries are good,” Nicole said.

“So, if I want to do something, I should ask first.”

Nicole smirked.  “Whatever you’re implying, I never do it on a first date.”

“Kiss me, Nicole.”

Nicole pulled Waverly closer and kissed her.  It felt good, it felt better than the last time they kissed.  Everything was in the open between them, no more hiding, no more running, no more pretending things were better than they were, no more rose-colored glasses.  The reality of whatever they had between was that it was good with a constant potential to turn bad, just by the nature of how close they were, and for the first time the acknowledged it.  Just acknowledging it made it better, made it safer, made them closer.

So, Waverly leaned into Nicole, glad that she was sitting and Waverly didn’t have to go on her toes.  She knew what it was like to kiss Nicole (and had given it a lot of thought lately) but this was different.  This was better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the last chapter! I hope you all liked it! Please let me know what you think! What do we think about the conversation between Waverly and Nicole at the end? I think it's important that maybe in their past relationship together they refused to see the downsides and both sort of refused to believe that the other could/would hurt them. I think it's important that they acknowledge that before they try anything again, otherwise they're going to end up the same way. What do you think?  
> Thank you so much for reading and commenting!


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